Destiny's Road
by Ladyamesindy
Summary: "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." Jean de La Fontaine John and Jane Shepard's destinies became intertwined in basic training. Since that time they have shared many a twist and turn, but will they be prepared for what is to come?
1. Chapter 1

_**This is an idea I've had for a while, but I had thought might sit on the backburner until I finished some others. This morning, they said 'Nope!" and started talking. Eventually will be a longer work, but for now here we go. **_

* * *

"_A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." Jean de La Fontaine_

The _Normandy _was docked at Arcturus, taking on final provisions for the upcoming shake down cruise and waiting on the final members of the crew to arrive. Everyone boarding here had reported in so far … everyone except ….

"Any sign of her yet?"

John stood leaning against a stack of crates waiting for boarding in the shuttle bay; arms folded across his chest, but eyes focused on the doors at the far end of the platform. Patience was not one of his best virtues. "Not yet," he replied.

The hand that landed on his shoulder, clapping it firmly but companionably wasn't unexpected. Neither was the deep rumbling chuckle that accompanied it. _Go ahead and laugh it up, Anderson. This was all your doing anyway._ "Well, she'll be here, son. No need to worry."

John sighed. He wasn't worried … not really, anyway. He'd been out on the tail end of a three month cruise when his orders had come through. Arrival at Arcturus had come a week sooner than originally scheduled as a result. Hell, he'd even had time to not only tour the ship thoroughly, but get his own hands to work in the engineering section to better understand how this new stealth system worked. _She,_ on the other hand, was still out on an N7 mission. Had been for three weeks now. Out of contact. Working solo. _Out of contact ..._

John sighed again. He knew better than to worry about her. Really, he did. After all, she was N7 trained, like he was. They'd gone through basic together. 'Seen it all' as raw recruits and still decided to hang around one another. They knew each others ups, downs, ins, outs - all of it. Elysium had simply been the icing on the cake, so to speak, and setting their career paths for life. Their combined achievements there had been one of those 'right place, right time' sort of moments. _And a hell of a memory_.

"How much longer do we wait, sir?" a new voice asked.

John glanced to his left, eyeing his companion. Alenko was a good guy and all, and a hell of a soldier. He'd only known one other biotic who might rival the Lieutenant for control and skill by comparison. But when it came to going 'by the book,' John wondered if Alenko didn't take things just a bit too strictly at times.

"We wait until she is here," Anderson announced. "I have confirmation she was retrieved and is en route. She is one of the most important elements to this mission - we do not leave without her."

"Yes, sir."

John's eyes darted back to face the older man's. _That_ was something Anderson had failed to mention before now. "Oh?" He tried to sound casual about it, but knew he failed when Anderson chuckled.

"You'll find out about it soon enough."

Grunting softly, John turned his eyes back upon the door ….

"Ten hut!"

Alenko's command had John shifting immediately to attention. _Occupational hazard_. Blue eyes met green as his arm rose in salute. Anderson stepped forward, his arm rising in salute as well. Hers followed suit. "Permission to come aboard, sir?"

John groaned internally as the voice washed over him. Familiarity reclaimed him in ways he had forgotten, _always_ forgot when they were apart for any length of time.

"Permission granted," Anderson replied. He then lowered his hand to take hers and shake it. "Welcome aboard, Commander."

There was a quirkiness to her smile, a small tilt that always seemed to be there - that corner with the scars she'd received on Elysium. But oh man, was it familiar. John took a step towards them.

"Thank you, sir," she replied. Her eyes then shifted to meet his again. He thought he saw the smile widen as well as reach the green depths.

"Permission to kiss my wife, sir?" John asked as evenly as possible. And, though he kept his eyes locked onto hers, he saw her brow tilt in surprise. He could no longer hide a grin from her. Yeah, he was feeling better already.

Anderson's laughter reverberated around them. "Don't you think you should be asking her that?" he cautioned. "Come on, Lieutenant. I think perhaps we ought to leave these two alone for a few minutes."

Alenko saluted the Commander smartly while replying to Anderson, "Yes, sir."

When they were alone, John closed the final step between them, his hands coming to rest at her hips. "Commander Shepard," he murmured before leaning down towards her.

Her soft chuckle was one of the best sounds he had heard in a long while. "Commander Shepard," she returned, the amusement still there as her hands mimicked his.

~0~

Jane allowed her duffle to slide from her shoulder before her husband pulled her closer for a kiss. It was brief and relatively chaste considering it was him, but that didn't take any of the sweetness of it away. Sighing softly, she leaned her head against his shoulder afterwards for a brief moment. Six months had been a hell of a separation this time.

"Rough day at work?"

She snorted softly, lifting her head to meet his look after he asked. This was always his first question for her. Probably because she always looked as if she'd just gone ten rounds with a thresher maw when returning from an assignment. "Something like that," she replied. "Better now, though."

He grabbed her bag then and she followed him to the airlock where they both went through decontamination procedures. "What's our status?" she asked as they boarded.

"Ready to go," he told her. "We were just waiting on your arrival."

He led her through the CIC and down the stairs to the crew deck below. While he stowed her bag in a locker, she took note and glanced around. So far, she was liking what she was seeing of this new prototype warship. John had shot her over all the details Anderson had given him and she'd read them during her extraction flight. But there was a huge difference between words and specs and the reality before her now. Jane couldn't help but smile. John had added additional notes as well - she knew he couldn't help himself, that engineering mentality and all, but at least she could understand it.

"Who's the doc on board?" Jane asked after a moment.

"Dr. Karin Chakwas. Mostly served aboard ships, from what she told me," John replied. "She came over with Anderson."

Jane nodded. "Name sounds familiar. Probably heard him talk about her." She tucked the last of her belongings into the locker before he closed it. "And the Lieutenant?" she asked, recalling the dark haired man who had been standing with him outside.

"Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko," John announced. "Was with me aboard the _Cairo_ before Anderson brought us over here. You'll like him - he's like you."

Jane quirked an eyebrow. "Like me?"

"Biotic tech-head."

Jane snickered as they began walking towards the elevator. "There you go again," she teased, "assigning me labels."

He flashed her a charming grin. "Thought I was doing pretty good with that, personally," he told her as the door shut and they began to descend. "Wife was a good one."

"Husband is even better," she quipped back.

Following him through the ship, Jane took note of the different sections and the faces assigned to each. By the time they reached the bridge, she had made a mental note to return to engineering at some point to question Adams regarding the ship's drive core and the new stealth system and run into the resident turian on board at least three times. Though she knew nothing about their pilot, Jane took John's word that, despite his personality, he was one of the best.

"Alright, Joker," Anderson's voice broke in over the comms as he set their destination via the galaxy map, "let's head out."

"Got it, sir," the pilot replied and moments later, they were moving.

Jane glanced up at John and grinned. She wasn't certain why the two of them had been pulled onto this ship by Anderson - it was far from standard procedure - but she was excited about the ship and what she knew of their mission. Plus, this would be the first time she and John had actually served together since the incident on Elysium and before that, their first cruise after basic. Fate, she knew, had been kind to them in all things so far, and she had no reasons to doubt that it would change anytime soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two of my Male Shepard/Female Shepard (husband/wife) pairing. Also a small tribute to Monty Python below. Enjoy!**

* * *

"_Hey."_

_She looked up and he found green eyes wide and lost, red hair the only vibrant thing at the moment. Each and every freckle that ran across her nose seemed dull against paler than usual skin. "Hey." Even her voice sounded diminished by comparison to its usual brightness._

_He hesitated, uncertain what to say next. She was one of the few minors on board who was near his age, only a year behind him in school; a 'friend' as well as a classmate. _

_Booted feet came rushing down the hall in a hurry, and instinct had him grasping her hand, tugging her to the side out of harm's way as the squad of marines hurried past towards the shuttle bay. _

"_I'm sorry."_

_The words seemed almost … hollow. Certainly flat. He wasn't sure if she would hear that they had meaning, though. It was so hard for him to judge right now. How was one supposed to react in a situation like hers? "Gee, I'm sorry your mom bought it. I'm sorry they're shipping you back to Earth to live with a grandmother you don't really know. I wish you could stay here, with me and my folks. You're the best thing to come along in a long time and I don't want to lose that …."_

_But none of that seemed to fit, and so he relied on the apology instead. He watched her face closely after and saw her fighting. Herself, he guessed … but she was fighting at least. His dad had said her mom went down fighting, so that was good. Right?_

"_Thanks."_

_Her voice sounded flat too. Like she didn't want to go. Like she wanted her mom back. She'd already lost her dad when she was eight - some incident aboard a different ship, but he'd managed to keep it from spreading while everyone else on board had evacuated. She hadn't talked about him much either._

_A figure came walking towards them. "Jane? It's time."_

_He reached out and hugged her, tucking a small device into her hand. "Chat program," he murmured near her ear. "For your 'tool. Install it, bring it up and it will connect only to me. Whenever you want." He gave her what he hoped was a comforting smile. "Or not."_

_And for the first time in days, since the news that arrived shattering her world and, subsequently, his, she smiled. It wasn't complete - he hadn't expected that - and it didn't quite reach her eyes and push out the sorrow, but it was something at least. She hefted her duffle bag over her shoulder and turned away, but not without leaning over to hug him back. Pocketing the device, she murmured, "Thanks," then turned and left._

~0~

Waiting. Damn, he hated it. Never been good at it. Drove everyone nuts whenever they had to run a ship's diagnostic or reinstall programs or anything along those lines because he just couldn't sit still. Probably was the main reason he hadn't chosen a career path that would keep him aboard ships and instead picked up a gun. He needed to be moving. Involved. _Doing_ something.

But for the moment, he was parked outside the doors to the med bay, waiting. Arms crossed, scowl across his face, the only movement coming from the pacing he was doing. Anderson had tried to talk him down after offering reassurances, but John wasn't buying it. Even Williams had offered to keep watch to allow him a chance to go and beat it out of his system in the small gym below decks, but again John had refused.

No. Like last time, he was going to be here. Waiting. Only, he wondered who would catch him when _he_ was the one to fall?

Life as an Alliance marine brought along with it a certain level of acceptance. Growing up on ships when your parents served taught one this from a very young age. Among these was the general idea that, in the heat of battle especially, anything could happen and often did, and that anyone from the buddy beside you to your CO could get hit or even killed.

Acceptance of this had been a part of his life from the first breath he had taken as a child and over the years it had been reinforced time and again. With a mother serving as navigator and a father leading ground teams, he had grown up facing life and death on a daily basis. From the moment he'd enlisted at age eighteen, he had faced his own fair share of close calls and near misses. Twice before he had lost friends and squadmates to enemy fire. The one exception to this rule that he had constantly refused to face, even theoretically, as he moved up in rank and life was that of all possible people that could be taken down in battle, it would end up being the one he cared most about: his wife.

The door to the med bay slid open, catching his attention and that of Williams who was still standing nearby. When Alenko stepped out, John turned towards him, expectant. "Well?"

The Lieutenant shrugged. "Too soon to tell, really," he offered. "Dr. Chakwas has done what she can. It _looks_ good so far, but she is still unconscious."

"Any idea what happened?" Williams asked, stepping over to join them.

Alenko shook his head and rubbed at the back of his neck with his hand. "Doc agrees it had to have been some sort of communications device, but how exactly neither of us knows. She says the Commander's been exhibiting signs of intense … dreaming ever since. Her beta waves are off the charts."

John glanced beyond Alenko. "Can I go in?" he asked.

Alenko nodded. "Doc says you can sit with her for a while, sir. There's not much more she can do until the Commander wakes up, anyway."

"Or, we get to the Citadel," Williams added.

Alenko nodded. "Or that," he agreed.

John entered the med bay and crossed to the far side where he could see Jane lying on one of the beds; eyes closed, body so still she could have passed for dead. Chakwas nodded as he approached, murmuring something about how Jane would be fine. Most of what she said, though, went in one ear and out the other as he moved beside her and took her hand in his. He tried to ignore how cold and lifeless it felt as he sat there.

~0~

Reality was slow to return, but as it did Jane took comfort in the fact that the first voice she heard was a familiar one. _John._ Blinking back the grogginess, she pushed herself upright and looked around. Lips curving as she spotted him, moving in front of her, she tilted her head slightly so she could look up at him. "Well, _that_ didn't go as planned … did it?"

She almost laughed at the look of complete and utter disbelief he gave her. Clearly, he had forgotten her quirky sense of humor. But he soon smiled, and she relaxed. That was a start, at least. "So," she tried again, sliding off the medical table and onto the floor, "what did I miss?"

His hands rose to her shoulders and held her in place before him. "That's kind of what we're hoping you can tell us," he replied. "Doc says you're okay, but … how do you feel?"

Dr. Chakwas snorted softly from across the room. "I believe my words were, 'She should be all right,' but I did also warn you that I wouldn't know more until I'd had a chance to speak with her."

Jane chuckled softly as he scowled. Lifting a hand, she rested it on his arm, patting it absently. "Been hounding the doc, have you?" she asked, giving him a knowing grin.

"Maybe," he admitted.

The door whooshed open and shut behind them, but Jane chose to ignore it for now. "My favorite worrywart. And, you never did answer my question," she reminded him.

"I could say the same for you," he replied. "What the hell happened down there? Williams said one minute you're coordinating with Joker for pickup of the beacon and the next …?"

Jane sighed, then grimaced. Her head was still on the throbbing side of things. "The beacon … well, it started glowing. Caught Williams up in some sort of … I don't know, energy field of some kind?" She closed her eyes as she easily recalled the events. "I ran over, grabbed her and threw her free, but ended up getting caught in the field myself. You and Alenko were still on your way to the rendezvous, I think."

He nodded. "Yeah. We came across some farmers who had taken refuge in one of those prefabs out near the dig site," he explained. "Slowed us down a bit."

Jane sighed and moved a hand to rub at her face while he stepped back and gave her space to move. "Nihlus is dead," she informed him.

"So Williams said," he told her. "Anderson's been briefed. Has us headed for the Citadel."

"Yeah. And just like that, I blow the biggest chance of my career," she muttered.

"What was that?"

Jane began stretching, her shoulder was on the stiff side, probably from the inevitable tumble she had taken after the beacon disengaged. She recalled being lifted by it, but not coming down after …. "I was being evaluated for a spectre position," she told him. "I only just found out before the mission myself," she added when he looked hurt, presumably because she hadn't told him about it. "Apparently, that's why I kept bumping into Nihlus every time I turned around."

She saw his lips press together tightly. "Wow. Spectre, huh?"

Nodding, she replied, "That's what Nihlus and Anderson said. Seems like a moot point now, though."

"I wouldn't say that, exactly, Commander."

Both John and Jane turned towards the front of the med bay as Anderson walked over and joined them. "Though admittedly, it doesn't look good."

Jane straightened and saluted. "Yes, sir."

~ 0 ~

Jane stood before the Council, her husband to one side, Anderson to the other and Udina before them, pleading their case. However, Saren's holographic presence appeared to be enough to sway the Council to believing his side of the story. They might claim that the Eden Prime teams didn't have any compelling 'proof' to show that Saren had turned traitor, but where was Saren's proof that he hadn't? Why wasn't he here in person to defend himself?

Jane sighed and tried to keep her eyes from rolling. No doubt the Council's argument would be, _The burden of proof is on the accusing party, not the defense._ And the testimony of a 'traumatized dockworker' clearly wasn't proof enough.

She ignored the arguing going on around her, though she did notice that John was quick to jump in on her count. That at least gave her reason for a smile. Always willing to jump to her defense. Some things never changed, it seemed. Behind her, she could hear Kaidan and Ashley murmuring soft asides between them, but they were hardly loud enough for her to hear. Not with the Council and Saren both breaking in over Udina, Anderson and John. It was all beginning to give her one Council-sized headache ….

… until she heard Saren calling _HER_ out, publicly berating her ineptitude at the handling of the Eden Prime mission. That resulted in Udina nearly having a coronary as he protested. Eyes darting upwards, Jane found herself glaring at the holographic image of the turian Spectre. _If that's the way you want to play it, friend_, she thought, _then by all means … game on._

It took a few minutes for the asari councilor to calm things back down and bring the session to a close, but the end result was definitive: Saren would remain a Council Spectre as there was no proof that he had gone renegade.

"Well, _that_ went well," she heard John mutter as they left the Council chamber with Anderson and Udina.

"I should never have brought you in there, Captain," Udina grumbled. "Not only did the mission on Eden Prime put Shepard's candidacy in danger, but your past history with Saren will now make them question our motives."

Finally fed up with it all, Jane stepped forward. "I've done nothing wrong," she reminded them. "What happened on Eden Prime wasn't our doing - we know that. If we know that, then there must be others out there who know it too. Some proof of it out there we can find and use to our advantage."

"What about that C-Sec investigator?" Alenko asked, stepping forward. "When we talked with him on the way in, he seemed to think there were still other avenues to follow in his investigation."

"Maybe we could convince him to pick it up again," Williams jumped in. "_IF_ we can find him."

"I have a contact in C-Sec," Udina announced. "He can tell you where to find this investigator - Officer Garrus Vakarian is his name. Go to _Chora's Den_ and look for Harking. He's usually there, this time of day."

Jane did not miss the eye roll that Anderson gave, but she nodded. If Anderson's reaction was any indication, the man wouldn't be worth it, but an iffy lead was better than no lead at all at this point. "I guess I will start there, then."

"There's a financial advisor down in the Presidium," Anderson broke in. "Name of Barla Von. He might have some information you can use too. Just tell him I sent you - he'll know what I mean."

"Noted." Jane looked back and forth between Udina and Anderson. "Anything else?"

Udina shook his head. "We will be in the embassies if you need us, Commander," he informed her. "Come on, Anderson."

Anderson allowed Udina to walk ahead of him a few steps before he turned back to Jane and the others. "This is your show, Shepard," he told her. "Do what you have to do, but know this: Saren hates humans. I've seen proof of that first hand in the past. And now that he knows that we know about him, he's likely to make things difficult for you. Be careful out there." Without another word, he turned to follow Udina, leaving the four standing by themselves.

Jane glanced up at John. They had both known Anderson for about the same length of time. "Well then."

John chuckled. "That's Anderson for you."

"Indeed. Alright. So, next question. Do we do this together, or do we split up?" She glanced over at the other three. "Opinions?"

"We might use our time more efficiently if we broke up into two groups," Alenko suggested. Jane looked over at Williams who nodded.

"I agree," John added. "Why don't I take Williams and we'll go investigate this Barla Von character? You and Alenko can go talk to Harkin." He flashed her a quick grin. "He sounds like quite the, uh, character. Right up your alley."

Jane snorted, amusement sparkling in her green eyes. "He does, doesn't he?" she mused. Glancing over at Williams and Alenko, she asked, "That work for you two?"

They both nodded. "Sure, Commander," Williams replied. She glanced over at John. "Ready to go, Skipper?"

Jane bit back a grin and reached out to pat the other woman's shoulder. "You sure don't lack enthusiasm, do you, Chief?"

Ashley smiled. "How does that old Earth tune go? 'Always look on the bright side of life'?"

Jane chortled as she and Alenko turned to leave. "Nice, Chief. Very nice." She gave her husband one last smile. "Good luck."

His smile reached his eyes at least, she noted. She knew he was still a bit worried over her reaction to the beacon, but this was progress. "You too."


	3. Chapter 3

"You okay, Commander?"

They were leaving _Chora's Den_, and Jane glanced over at the Lieutenant more out of curiosity at his question than anything else. "Shouldn't I be, Lieutenant?" she countered quizzically.

Alenko's face reddened just a bit, apparently realizing he had crossed some boundary. "Sorry, ma'am," he replied, "but Harkin was -"

Jane's questioning look smoothed into a warm smile. "An ass?" she offered.

"Well, yes, that's one way to put it," he agreed. Then he added, a hint of a smirk teasing his lips, "Might I suggest you add 'condescending' to your report? Just for clarification purposes, of course."

Jane chuckled, but her eyes were filled with mirth as she nodded. "Duly noted, Lieutenant." Leading the way over to call for a skycab, she asked, "Anything else you took away from that little chat we had with him?"

He was silent for a moment as he considered her question. "Well, ma'am, I sincerely doubt he is on the C-Sec public relations team."

Jane actually chortled as they hopped into the arriving cab and she directed the driver to Dr. Michel's clinic. "Nice, Alenko, nice. What about our quarry, Garrus?"

Alenko frowned. Jane had to admit, if silently, she liked the fact that the Lieutenant took the time to think things through before voicing an opinion or replying to a question. "Well, Harkin didn't seem to care for him, if I read his tone right."

Jane nodded once. "You did," she assured him.

"Then, based off of Harkin's previous attitude, and the way he tried to goad you into a reaction about Captain Anderson's past, I would say that Harkin's behavior confirms that Garrus might just be an asset we could use," he concluded.

Again, Jane nodded. "Agreed."

They arrived at the med clinic a few minutes later and Jane paid the driver as she and Alenko exited the vehicle. "So then," she murmured as she began surveying the area.

Alenko shifted on his feet beside her after the cab pulled away before venturing dryly, "Why do I get the feeling this won't be as easy as it sounds?"

Jane flashed a grin over at him. "Because given the nature of what we are after, it shouldn't?" The one thing that was sticking out to her as she prepared to move forward was that it was surprisingly quiet for an area with a medical clinic. _Too_ quiet, really. Her gut instinct was screaming at her and had her reaching for the familiarity and comfort of dark energy at the ready upon her fingertips.

"Commander?"

She glanced over at him. It wasn't a hesitation or concern from what she could tell, but more of a question as to her methods. "We don't go in guns blazing, Alenko," she murmured quietly. "This is a clinic - there could be civilians inside."

Alenko nodded and mimicked her movement until he, too, had that tell tale blue haze wrapping around his hand. Jane smiled as she realized that was all the explanation he needed from her. Then again, being a biotic, he would likely understand on a whole different level. With John or other non-biotics, situations like this took more of a discussion on tactics. "Understood, Commander. Ready when you are."

The next few minutes passed with stunning speed and clarity for Jane as they entered the clinic. Not for the first time, she discovered that her instincts had read more of a situation than she could visually see. The door opened and closed softly behind her and Alenko, and as she stepped forward, she became aware of the man holding the doctor hostage, his pistol at her head. Garrus, Jane could see, was moving into position to her left, thankfully out of sight of the gunman. In order to keep him undiscovered, she kept her eyes upon the man and ordered sharply, "Let her go."

What followed next became a rush and a blur of activity, but during that same time she was able to reach several conclusions. First: Officer Garrus Vakarian was an excellent shot - or, perhaps, just lucky. Personally, Jane was inclined to believe the first over the latter, and no matter the case, she knew to have him on her team would be a plus. The second thing she discovered was that Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was holding back his true potential. That became quite obvious when she noticed just what fine precision he had in the use of his biotics against their opponents in the clinic. What caught her attention was the comparative difference between the precision accuracy of certain attacks versus the end results. Jane made a mental note to speak with him later in this regard. Certainly there were times when that would come into play, but a firefight with hostage taking thugs was not one of them. The third conclusion she reached came after the battle. It was then that Jane discovered that Dr. Chloe Michel was likely more important to their overall mission than Jane had previously thought. This became very clear in the information she imparted; information regarding the quarian … and the geth.

"Geth?" Jane heard Alenko and Vakarian chorus her amazement once this was announced.

The doctor nodded. "I told her Fist was an agent of the Shadow Broker and she insisted on seeing him and left the clinic."

Garrus shook his head slowly, negating the doctor's words. "Not anymore, he isn't. Fist sided with Saren and the Shadow Broker hired a krogan mercenary named Wrex to deal with his betrayal."

Jane and Alenko exchanged a look. "Sounds like we need to speak with this Wrex," Jane mused.

"Then we should head to C-Sec Academy," Garrus told her. "Wrex was being brought in for a 'talking to' because he was openly threatening Fist in his own club."

"Confident, isn't he?" Alenko observed dryly.

Garrus nodded. "He can afford to be - he's a krogan battlemaster."

Jane's smile broadened at that discovery. Having a krogan battlemaster on their side couldn't hurt, right? "Interesting," she mused.

"Commander, I hope you don't think me out of line, but … you're going after Saren. I have an interest in seeing him brought to justice, too. I was wondering if you would consider including me on your team for that."

Jane's eyebrow lifted. _Bold move_. "I don't see a problem with that for now," she told him after a moment's consideration. "Are you willing to follow my command?"

Garrus nodded immediately. "Of course, Commander."

"All right then." She glanced from one to the other before nodding towards the exit. "Let's go find us a krogan battlemaster."

~ 0 ~

"Sir?"

John nodded absently as they walked, eyes surveying the area around them carefully. "Speak freely, Williams," he told her.

"What was _that_ all about, sir?"

John chuckled and slowed his pace so the Chief could catch up and walk beside him through the Presidium. "That, Chief, was a test. Sort of." He shook his head. Jane was so much better at deciphering these more political type things than he was. His areas of expertise mostly included the battlefield and anything tech related. Word games, not so much. "Ultimately, I think the volus was trying to help us."

Williams seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Okay, I _think_ I can see that … but what was it he was actually told us?"

John shrugged as he led the way across the bridge to the entrance leading into the elevator system that would take them to the Wards and C-Sec. "I wish I knew, Chief. I wish I knew."

The elevator system wasn't overly complicated, though it did require several changes and transfers and took them a while to maneuver. Eventually, though, they exited near their destination. John frowned as they stepped through a series of doors and he found that they were in an altogether different place than he'd expected. _Then again, maybe not._ "Damn."

Williams stopped up short behind him. "Are we lost again, Skipper?" she asked in a mild tone.

John's frown darkened as he glanced down at her. "Again?"

"Well, you _did_ try to convince me the Consort's quarters was the volus' financial office," she reminded him.

John glowered at her. "No, I did not," he insisted as she grinned.

"Whatever you say, Skipper," she demured. "Oh, and, sir? You want to go to your left. Down the stairs over there, hang another left and the elevator at the end of that hall will be the one we need."

John actually turned on his heel sharply to face her in astonishment. "How the hell did you figure that out so fast?" he demanded. "I thought you said you'd never been here before?"

Her grin widened. "I haven't. Back in Udina's office, while you and Commander were discussing Eden Prime with Anderson and the ambassador? The LT pulled up a map of the Citadel on his omni-tool. Showed me all the main routes. Told me I might end up," she coughed into the back of her hand, "needing them if I was teamed up with you at some point. Sir."

John's glower narrowed further. "Oh, he did, did he?"

"Yes sir," she affirmed with an innocent nod. "Now I owe him twenty credits, too, since he was right."

John said nothing to that, just quietly walked down the stairs and turned down the hall leading in the direction of C-Sec. Williams followed, swallowing back the rest of her amusement.

Their arrival at C-Sec Academy went virtually unnoticed. John set out his arm to slow Williams' pace, bringing them in unobtrusively so that they could observe the scene before them. A krogan, one of the largest and more fearsome that John had ever seen, stood face to face with one of the human C-Sec guards. He also noted a turian and another human, both dressed in the uniforms of C-Sec, also nearby. It was clear that the discussion between them was on the contentious side of things.

"That our krogan, Skipper?" Williams murmured beside him.

They both listened as the C-Sec officer called the krogan by name.

"Appears to be, Chief," John replied. A movement off to his right caught his attention. A quick glance over, and he met the eyes of his wife, then Alenko and then noticed the turian he recalled was Vakarian. When his eyebrow lifted in question, Jane's head jerked slightly towards the conversation before them. "Looks like we're not the only ones looking for him, either."

When Wrex walked away from C-Sec, John saw him turn towards Jane and her group. Nodding at Williams, he told her, "Let's go join them."

The krogan didn't even give him or Williams a second look as they blended in with the rest of the _Normandy_ team, John noticed. Which was good … he hoped, anyway.

"We're going after Fist ourselves," Jane was explaining. John kept his eyes on the krogan as his wife spoke. There was a gleam of something he could see in those red eyes. "Perhaps we could join up and work together?"

The krogan nodded his head after a moment. "My people have a saying," he announced. "'_Seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend.'_ I will join you, human."

Jane nodded agreement and reached out a hand to shake the krogan's to solidify their deal. "But just so you are aware," Wrex warned, "I do intend on killing Fist to fulfill my contract."

John opened his mouth to add vehemence to his wife's earlier stance on the matter, but he saw her hand at her side make a gesture that he recognized. A signal they both had, for the few times they had worked together in past, to let the other know they were in control of a situation and did not require the other's intervention. Closing his mouth again, John remained silent.

"I can respect that, Wrex," she assured him. "However, I want to make sure I have certain pieces of information before that happens. So you either agree to abide by my leadership, or I will request C-Sec keep you in a cell until such time as I can finish my interrogation."

Wrex leaned in towards Jane then in what was clearly meant to be an intimidating and menacing manner, and John had to catch himself. Again, he noted that hand gesture from her, asking him to stay out of it, even as her focus was solely on the krogan. So, while his wife held her ground with Wrex, he signaled his companions, who were also beginning to shift warily on their feet, to stay back. A moment later, the rough rumblings of krogan laughter signaled that all was well. "Agreed," Wrex finally acquiesced.

Jane nodded. "Good." She turned then towards John and Williams. "Your talk with the volus?"

John nodded towards Wrex. "Led us to the krogan," he explained. "I can brief you on our way."

Jane nodded. "We," she nodded at Alenko and Garrus, "have a few things to tell you both as well."

John eyed their growing little group quickly. _Impressive_ was the first word that came to mind. "Then let's get moving."

~ 0 ~

When they arrived at _Chora's Den_, Jane took a quick look around, felt that same kick in the gut she'd had back at the med clinic and signaled Alenko over. "Scan the area for me. Get in as close as you can without giving yourself away." With a nod, he moved inside the walled area and began to do so.

Turning towards the others, she murmured, "Chances are, they know we're coming."

"Don't they always?" John muttered.

Jane chuckled. "With you, perhaps," she teased. "I'm a bit more subtle in my approach to things."

Their eyes met and she saw the spark of mischief behind the blue. "Remind me of that later and I'll refresh your memory of just how subtle I can be," he countered quietly.

Jane grinned. Some things, it seemed, never changed. "Promises, promises."

The soft sound of booted steps approaching had her turning to face Alenko as he rejoined them. "The place is completely closed down, Commander. I can't tell exact positions without being inside, or what types of weapons they are armed with," he explained, "but I can account for at least two dozen bodies in the main area of the club. Likely more beyond that, in the back where Fist's office is."

Jane nodded, glancing at the schematic Alenko had pulled up on his omni-tool where he had been using a finger to trace the path inside. "Right. John, you take Alenko and Garrus with you. Go left. Clear out anything and everything in the way. I'll take Williams and Wrex."

She saw her husband glance over at the schematic over her shoulder then nod. "Got it. You taking the right?"

Jane nodded. "The guys Fist sent to the clinic were armed to the teeth, so be ready."

John flashed her a quick smile. "See you on the other side," he murmured before signaling the turian and Alenko to follow.

Jane turned towards Wrex and Williams. "Let's go. Keep an eye out. I mean it - these guys had more firepower than was necessary to intimidate a clinic doctor. I suspect they were prepared for intervention."

Williams nodded once. "On your six, ma'am."

The battle, once engaged, was pretty much contained inside of the club. Jane had chosen to take Williams and Wrex with her because she wanted to get a better estimation of Williams' skills as she'd observed on Eden Prime, as well as to give the woman a bit of a psychological boost after the fiasco of how that mission had ended; plus she had been curious what the krogan might bring to the party. Biotics, to her way of thinking, was always a bonus. Wrex's skill with a shotgun, even more so. Then there was his 'in your face' approach to battle. As Jane and Williams each took a line in on their side of the club - Jane to the leftmost portion, ducking behind the obstacle course that was the bar and the multitude of chairs that were in the way, and Williams the right, using tables and dancing platforms as cover, Wrex just barrelled straight down the center, taking anyone or thing brave enough to face him in a head on collision followed up with a personal greeting from his shotgun. Jane found it to be quite an interesting experience.

Once the front of the club was finally cleaned out, both groups met up near the doors leading to the back section of the club. "Alenko, and Wrex with me this time," she announced. Turning to John, she added, "Stay here and keep an eye out. I suspect reinforcements will be incoming soon and we may need to leave in a hurry."

"Got it." As she turned away, she heard him giving orders to Garrus and Williams regarding placement. Jane knew she and her team would be safe from behind.

Entering the back halls, Jane had just led them around a corner when they came face to face with several who were quite clearly not professional soldiers of any kind. "Warehouse workers," Wrex observed.

At their protests regarding Jane and her squad's presence, Jane simply lifted an eyebrow and nodded back the way she had come. Keeping her pistol lowered in a non-threatening manner, she informed them in a deceptively mild tone, "I just killed fifty of Fist's men on the way in here. What do you think I will do if you try to stop me, hmm?"

It didn't take them long to decide they wanted to live beyond that moment and scurried off to wait out the attack in a nearby store room. "Come on," Jane told her companions as she set a timer on the lock to the door. She didn't want them sneaking back out before she and the others were gone.

They found their way to a doorway that had to belong to Fist. Jane pulled up her omni-tool and began searching for a program to override the door lock when Alenko stepped forward. "Allow me, ma'am," he murmured, moving in and taking over.

Jane nodded and took a moment to watch over his shoulder. "I think you and I are going to have to have a long chat and compare notes when we get back to the _Normandy_, Lieutenant," she murmured before stepping aside and retrieving her pistol as the doors slid open.

Their eyes met briefly as he rose, but he had a smile on his face. "Yes, ma'am."

They were met inside by Fist and two gun turrets. The turrets, though, were not match for the overload attacks both she and Alenko threw at them. Wrex, of course, barrelled right down the center of the room, heedless of gunfire aimed directly at him or furniture obscuring his path. Moving quickly, as soon as the turrets were down, Jane stepped forward to take charge. Thankfully, Wrex cooperated and backed off before taking a shot at Fist.

"Where's the quarian?" Jane demanded, moving in with her pistol aimed directly at Fist.

She listened to the man before her sputter a bit before explaining what had happened. "It's not far from here!" he insisted as she knelt down beside him, anger guiding her pistol to sit just below his chin. "If you hurry, you can get to her!"

"You bastard!" Jane hissed. "And just what am I supposed to do? Leave you here? Let you go? Your crimes are more serious than -"

"You won't see me anymore," Fist promised, struggling up to his feet. Jane rose at the same time, her pistol continuously trained on him. "I promise! I'll leave and you won't ever have to -"

A shot rang out a few inches to Jane's left, finding its way forward and in through the man's armor. Jane lowered her pistol as Fist crumpled to the ground, the life slowly bleeding out of him with the wound, but there was no doubt that it was deadly. "Consider yourself fortunate," Jane sneered at him as she turned. "I would have made sure it took twice as long for you to die."

Jane was just nodding Alenko and the krogan towards the door when her comm crackled.

"_We've got company out here,_" John's voice announced.

"On our way," she replied. To Wrex and Alenko, she said, "Let's go."

~ 0 ~

"Williams, you've got the left, Garrus the right. Keep the paths clear," John told them. As for himself, he took aim at the pair that had somehow managed to get up top over the bar. Using the crates left by the previous 'owners,' he took cover until he could get clear shots at them, but by the time Jane and her squad arrived, the front of _Chora's Den_ was once again clear of mercs.

"Well," he heard his wife huff softly as he rose to his feet, "looks like you guys get all the fun!"

John grinned, eyes sparkling. "I don't know," he countered as he moved aside to let her through. "Sounded like you were having quite a party back there a while ago."

Jane snorted softly. "Turrets, John," she told him, her own grin matching his. "You would have loved it." Sighing, she took a quick look around the room before them. Satisfied it was empty, she gestured everyone towards the exit. "Let's go, people. We've got a quarian who has been led into a trap and only a couple of minutes to see she remains safe."

John followed behind her, keeping pace as the others brought up the rear. "Which way?" he asked as they ducked out of the club.

"Down that alleyway to the left before entering the markets," she replied. Then a snarl. "Bastard set her up, John."

He heard the bitterness in her tone, understood the source. "We'll make it," he promised, hoping it would reassure her.

John burst ahead of her as they neared the door to the alleyway, his omni-tool at the ready so that by the time Jane and the others caught up, it was open. Jane signalled him and the rest of the squads to either side of the hall, while she ducked and crept up on ahead. John waved the others to a stop while he followed up behind her. "Five, plus the quarian," Jane breathed near his ear. John nodded and turned back to relay the information via hand signals. A moment later, the sound of flashbang grenades signaled the start of battle. Within moments, it was all over. While Jane spoke with the quarian, John checked on the status of the rest of their group.

"We're good, Skipper," Williams assured him with a broad smile.

John frowned at her. From what he'd seen of her in action so far, he knew she could handle herself on a battlefield, but this … was different. It seemed out of place for their current situation. "Why the grin, Chief?" It was then that he saw Alenko pulling a credit chit from one of the hidden pockets in his armor and reluctantly handing it over to Williams. "Ah." Alenko's sheepish look did not go unnoticed, either.

"John?"

His attention pulled back to the matter at hand, he crossed over to his wife and the quarian. "What is it?"

"We need to get some place safe," Jane explained quickly. She gave him a knowing look, but one that had a sparkle of victory twinkling in her green eyes. "We've got him this time!"

Alenko had moved over to join them. Nodding over at the quarian first, he suggested, "What about the embassies?"

John nodded his agreement. "Safest place as any," he agreed. "And if this is as potent as you think, we'll need Udina's help to get in to see the Council."

Jane nodded. "Let's go," she called to the others as she moved to one side and John to the other of the quarian, Tali. Retribution for the rogue Spectre, it would seem, was closer at hand than anyone had thought possible.


	4. Chapter 4

In all the insanity surrounding Jane's induction as a Council Spectre once Tali'Zorah's evidence was brought to light, John could not say that he was not surprised he didn't run into her again until she returned to the _Normandy_ some hours later. Or, rather, when _HE_ returned to the ship to find her standing off alone at the far end of the landing platform, staring silently and thoughtfully out at the ward arms in the distance. She stood leaning partially bent forward at the waist, arms resting on the railing, hands folded together and her eyes focused on something he could not decipher from his current point of view. However, John knew that their target didn't really matter. It was a pose he had seen her adopt a time or two in the past, usually during difficult times. One he knew that, even if he _could_ see her eyes right then he would recognize the look there. No doubt it would be the same as that day when they'd been parted so many years before.

Instead of boarding the _Normandy_, John chose instead to approach her. He waited until he was within hearing distance to make a sound, a sort of throat clearing noise as an alert so she knew he was nearby. He saw her turn her head a bit as if listening, but she did not look over in his direction. "You can come on up," she told him quietly. "I'm just … thinking."

Very few strides had him standing beside her, adopting a similar posture to her own, though his focus was entirely on her at the moment and not the scenic view in front of them. Other than when she'd been lying unconscious in the medical bay after Eden Prime, this was the first chance he'd really had to spend some time alone with her since their most recent reunion. "What are you thinking about?" he asked.

He heard her sigh softly, wondered at the constant whirl of thoughts that always seemed to be rolling through her head at any given moment. She had always spent so much time thinking when they were younger. During class, while working on homework, even during the free time they had spent together roaming and investigating the ship together back then, he would often catch her drifting off to some place that he never could seem to find, a place where only she could go. At the time, he'd almost been jealous of how easy she made it seem. Later, after they'd been brought back together, she'd explained that it wasn't always a good place to be.

"Things," she murmured. "Saren and the geth. Being a Council Spectre. The weight of responsibility involved in all of that. You know," she flashed him a quick smile, tilting her head so their eyes finally met, "the usual."

John snorted softly, his arm sliding to wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. "The usual, huh?" he echoed. "Why is your usual always places I can't go along?"

Jane blinked, surprise suffusing her features. "What do you mean?" she countered. "We've always done everything together before." When his eyebrow raised in question, she dipped her head slightly, eyes dropping for a moment as she amended, "Well, all the important things. Basic. N School. Elysium." She sighed and rolled her eyes as he made an odd noise in his throat. "Okay … I'll grant you, that _was_ an odd way to spend our honeymoon, but still …."

Chuckling, John tightened his arm around her shoulders. "Odd is our usual, is that what you're saying?"

Silence fell over them for a while, but it was companionable enough. After another minute or two, Jane leaned into his shoulder, her cheek coming to rest on his shirt sleeve. "I'm glad you're here, John," she finally told him.

"Me too," he admitted. "It's been too long since we last worked together."

A smile at her lips, Jane straightened a bit and turned until she was leaning against the rail, his arms around her while she faced him. "It has," she agreed. "I'm actually a little surprised Anderson managed it."

John chuckled, laughter bubbling upwards and reaching his eyes. "From what I heard, he handpicked the entire crew. Well, except for the three new additions who just joined us. And Williams."

Jane nodded, another sigh escaping. "I'm sorry about Jenkins," she murmured. She knew he took deaths of crew under his command just as hard as she did. "Did you know him well?"

John shrugged. "Not really," he admitted. "All of about three days, maybe. He and Alenko seemed to know one another, though." Adjusting their positions, he loosely pinned her against the railing so he could lean in for a kiss. "Six months was a hell of a long time," he grumbled.

Jane smiled, her lips still pressed lightly against his. "We both knew this would happen," she reminded him, "more often than not."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

Lifting her head, she found his eyes and held his gaze. "Is that why you gave the doctor so much grief when I was unconscious?"

His eyes narrowed as he protested, "I did no such thing."

"John." Her tone was a mixture of gentle chastising and astonishment. "Just like you didn't come straight to Earth looking for me after my grandam died?"

John's arms wrapped around her, pulling her tight against his chest. That had been a trip, that was for certain. "You'd barely been there six months," he murmured. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"I was almost seventeen, John," she reminded him.

"And I was worried about you," he countered. "I get a message from you saying, '_I'm all alone now,'_ and nothing further even after I message you back. What else am I supposed to think?"

"You panicked," she corrected gently. "Besides, I was in London -"

"All alone."

She pursed her lips together. "What did you think was going to happen? That I'd end up running a street gang or something?"

His hands dropped, catching hers and squeezing tightly. "Isn't that sort of what happened?" he asked. "I did find you with the _Reds_, you know. Eight weeks later."

"I was hardly 'running' them, and you know it. They offered me a relatively safe place. I knew what I was doing -" she protested, but the sharp headshake cut her off.

"Safe place?" he echoed incredulously. "You really believe that, don't you? Jane, they are an infamous street gang. You had no idea what you were getting into." He shook his head firmly. "None whatsoever." Lifting a hand, he tucked some of her red hair - a shade of red that had always fascinated him - behind the delicate shape of her ear.

"I did," she argued, one hand coming up to poke him in the chest, "otherwise why do you think I would have let you talk me into joining up with the Alliance so early by lying about my age? I was able to recognize that I needed to get out of there …."

This time, he was the one to sigh. Lowering his forehead to meet hers, he replied in a hopeful tone, "You agreed because you loved me and couldn't live without me?"

Jane cracked a grin but couldn't hide the blush staining her cheeks. "Well, that came later."

"Seriously?" he teased, brow lifting.

She nodded. "I seem to recall, I resisted your proposals for a good few years."

"Hmm. Well then, you must have joined up because you knew I was right."

Jane smacked the side of his arm. "Oh, please! Try again."

"You hit like a girl, you know." The sight of her scowling up at him like that made his pulse jump just a bit. There was a certain edge to the spark of irritation in her eyes that he found to be quite … intriguing. "Then again, since you_ are_ a girl …"

He knew what was coming next. It was an old familiar routine between them when he pushed her just a little too far. She moved fast, grasping him by one wrist, pressing a hand solidly at his other shoulder and spinning so that he was now the one with his back to the railing, her standing just a few inches beneath him and glowering up in his direction. _Never fails to diffuse a potential argument either._ "I stand corrected?" he offered.

She leaned up to kiss him firmly before releasing him. Chuckling softly, she dropped her head to his shoulder once more, if only briefly. "Hmm. We'll see how long that lasts." Her tone sounded less irritated, though, so John figured it had worked. "How are your parents, by the way?" she asked next. "Have they forgiven me yet?"

"I was the only one they blamed for running after you," he reminded her. "And you know that. Mom is serving aboard the _Kilimanjaro_ at the moment. Dad's an instructor at basic."

Jane's head lifted in surprise. "He got it?"

John nodded. "Yeah. The old man got his dream position. I'm beginning to wonder if Anderson had a hand in that, too."

"Or Hackett," Jane reminded him. "From what your father told us, they all three served together."

"True."

Sighing, Jane straightened and pulled a step away from him after glancing at the time on her omni-tool. "I suppose we might as well board," she murmured. "We should have everyone back soon."

John hesitated before releasing his grip on her hands. Squeezing them once, he asked, "You going to be okay?"

She looked over at him, guilt still eating at her. "I don't like what they did to Anderson," she admitted while chewing on the corner of her lip.

He nodded his agreement with her while pointing out, "It makes sense though. Even he thought so."

Jane shrugged. "Doesn't make it any more right. But yeah … I'll be okay. And when I'm not …."

John moved to her side, arm at her waist as he led her down the steps and in the direction of the airlock. "I'll be here to help if you want it," he assured her.

Jane tossed him a quick and grateful smile. "Or at least to lean on for a minute until I sort out how to fix it," she replied.

"That too."

~ 0 ~

"So, boss lady," Joker rambled as he began maneuvering the _Normandy_ out of dock and away from the Citadel, "where are we headed?"

Jane glanced over at John, standing off to the side and observing some sort of readings (she was never sure exactly what he was looking at during times like this) while offering, "Wild blue yonder?" A minute later, she turned and exited the bridge towards the CIC.

"Great help there, Commander," Joker called after her. "Just remember … you want to get where you want to go you need to let the pilot know."

Jane chuckled as she walked down the hall. "Nice rhyming there, Joker," she called back. "Maybe you have a future moonlighting as a poet?"

The sound of the other Commander Shepard chuckling softly nearby didn't help matters either. "You did set yourself up for that," John pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah," the helmsman muttered. "Anyway, the way I understand it, we've got three options. This Feros and the Exo Geni people who have gone offline; Noveria and their privatized little corner of the world all covered in snow and ice; and wherever this place 'somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster' turns out to be." Shaking his head, Joker sighed in frustration. "What's she wanting to do, flip a coin? Roll a die?"

A soft beep sounded and a small green indicator light jumped onto one of the open monitors before them a minute or two later. "Woman's intuition?" John offered as he read the output. "Artemis Tau it appears to be. Looks like we're going to find us an asari archaeologist."

"Alphabetical order doesn't count," Joker retorted, though he laid in the coordinates. A few moments later, a readout scrolled up before him. "Looks like thirty-six hours until we get to the cluster."

John nodded. "And then the real hunt begins. Alright, I'll leave the flying to you for now. Call me or Alenko if you need relief."

"Yes, sir."

~ 0 ~

"Seriously? He proposed to you while you were on guard duty?"

John rolled his eyes as he descended the stairway to the crew deck. One of the things many of the crew hadn't figured out yet was how the shape of the mess area allowed for their voices to carry around the deck … and vibrant voices, such as that belonging to a certain Chief who was now a permanent part of the crew, tended to carry very well.

"The first time, yes," he heard Jane reply softly, a hint of amusement mixed with fondness in her tone. He couldn't help but smile to himself. He _had_ been inspired that night.

"First time?"

In addition to Williams' voice, John identified a subtle, deeper tone. _Williams and Alenko_, he realized. _Well, it was only a matter of time before questions began, I suppose._

"Just how many times _did_ he ask?" Williams demanded.

There was a pause, and then the sound of ceramic connecting with (presumably) the tabletop. A quirk tilted at John's lips. _She still drinks the tea on the way to a mission_, he thought. "Five," he announced as he rounded the corner. His voice must have come as a surprise, because he saw both Alenko and Williams bolt straight upright into positions of attention.

Jane simply frowned over at him. "Six," she corrected.

John had merely walked by them, determined to seek out a cup of coffee, but now paused for a moment before turning back to join them for just a moment. Lifting his hand, he began counting off on individual fingers. "Once at basic. Once at OCS. Once at our first duty station on Terra Nova. Once at Christmas that year we were with my parents. And once during our reunion after the first time we were separated by duty assignments."

Jane sat back in her seat, arms folded across her chest as her tea was left forgotten for the moment. "Really?" she challenged. "You're going to forget my birthday when I graduated from tech school?"

John opened his mouth to argue … but caught himself. "That was …."

"The year before Christmas with your parents."

John sighed. Fine, he'd own that one. "Okay, okay …. _Six_ times," he agreed. "But the important thing is you finally said yes. And," he added, "that I remember our anniversary every year." He turned away then to walk over to the galley and complete his original mission.

"Only because you have it programmed into your omni-tool," she called after him.

He glanced over in her direction, their eyes meeting once more. "And you don't?"

Jane shook her head and used her index finger to point to her forehead. "I use my noggin, thank you very much."

John heard a sort of strangled gurgling sound, but could not tell if it was Alenko or Williams who was the culprit. Returning to the table, he took a seat and joined them.

"How did you two first meet?"

John glanced over at Jane and nodded for her to take Alenko's question. She had her cup of tea in hand again and took a long drink before responding. "My mom was assigned to serve on the same ship his parents were on. We both ended up in school classes together. And the rest, as they say, is history," she explained.

Williams hrrmpfed softly as she fell back into her seat. "Well, that's not a let down by any stretch of the imagination."

John nearly choked on his coffee. "Actually, it was more like she had gotten lost -"

"I did not!"

John nodded once in acquiescence. "Forgive me - 'misdirected by one of the crew' - trying to find the quarters she and her mom had been assigned. I was exploring the ship and -"

"And came barrelling around a corner without a care for where he was going," Jane continued. "Nearly flattened me."

John snickered. "If that was the case, why was I the one who ended up flat on his ass?"

Ignoring him, Jane added, "And that is how we met. In the end, though, he finally told me how to get to my quarters, and I dragged him along so Mom could meet him." She smiled over the brim of her mug as she drank. "Mom always did like you."

They were still talking, minutes or hours later, when Garrus entered the mess and joined them. A short while later, Tali'Zorah arrived as well. Eventually, meals were sought, and the storytelling began to broaden to areas other than just the Commanders' Shepard's backgrounds.

Jane sat cross legged in her chair, about three cups of tea later, and asked, "So, Garrus, how did you end up as a cop?"

The turian seemed startled that the focus was suddenly turned on him. "A 'cop?'"

"Officer," Williams supplied. "Enforcer of the law, defender of the people, yadda yadda yadda."

"Ah." Though Garrus still appeared uncomfortable, he did not dodge the question. "I have heard the term before, but I guess I never really paid much attention to it. Well, let me see … there was the fact that I wanted to, well … help people. Protect them in some way. Also, my father was in C-Sec. It was sort of expected that I would follow in his footsteps."

John nodded, saw Jane, Williams and Alenko do the same. "That's a familiar story for many of us," he offered.

"You, too, Commander?" Tali asked him, a hint of surprise in her tone.

John chuckled, his eyes meeting Jane's. "Yup. Mom is navy - has served shipside her entire career. Dad's a marine, currently whipping new recruits into shape at basic. I grew up with that. Always with mom, even if dad was stationed apart, but we got lucky and managed to stay together most of the time."

"I would imagine being in the flotilla is similar?" Jane asked.

Tali nodded. "It certainly sounds like it. It's difficult not to become a part of it, growing up in the Fleet. Although," she added, "our soldiers serve aboard ships rather than based on land."

Jane nodded in return. "I was with both parents until I was eight, all of those years were aboard ship. After that, it was just me and my mom." She offered a smile. "Mom was a marine and could have been given a land based assignment, but she loved being able to look out a window at all the stars. Loved having the chance to show it all to me." She shrugged. "I guess it stuck."

"What about you, Alenko?" John asked.

The Lieutenant shrugged. "Dad was a marine, though he retired a long while back. I decided to follow in his footsteps later."

Jane smiled over at him. "Must've made him proud," she murmured.

He shrugged again. "Eventually," he agreed before glancing pointedly over at Williams. "How about you?"

Jane had turned to look over at the Chief and noticed the smallest of hesitations before the younger woman responded. "We have a history of several generations serving," she finally admitted. "It wasn't _expected_ I would serve, but I _chose_ to."

Wrex came lumbering in a short while later. After being guided over to the galley, he too joined the group surrounding the table. By that point, conversation had turned to various harrowing missions or other tales from past experience.

"I would imagine N School provided you both," Williams mused with a glance from Jane to John, "with plenty of near misses."

Jane snorted softly while John just flat out laughed aloud. "You could say that," he replied.

"Remember," Jane told Williams, "we were both targeted at different times. John was already rated N5 by the time it was offered to me."

"How did that happen?" Alenko asked. "I mean … you didn't get on Alliance Command's radar simply because he was already in the program, did you?"

John chuckled and waved the questions off to Jane. After giving him a slightly sour look, she rolled her eyes and turned to face the Lieutenant. "No, I was chosen because of my own …."

"Brilliance," John interjected.

"Stupidity," Jane countered.

Their eyes met across the table and held for a long moment, but John finally shrugged. "I dunno … Anderson seemed impressed."

Jane rolled her eyes again. "Anderson's biased. Anyway, basically what happened was, we both were in the right place at the right time."

"For future reference for anyone interested," John added, grinning over at his wife, "Elysium is probably not the best place for a honeymoon."

Jane felt the heat stain her cheeks as everyone at the table suddenly turned eyes upon her. "Shore leave," she mused, "isn't all it's cracked up to be. We were supposed to have a week. On the third day, the batarians attacked and for the next four days, John and I were helping the civilians survive. I only got noticed because of some 'daring do' to get communications back online so we could talk with the incoming Alliance ships and coordinate our efforts."

Williams' eyes widened. "I heard about that!" she exclaimed.

Alenko nodded. "I would have imagined it would get you any post in the fleet."

Jane sipped from her tea. "It did … relatively speaking. After the whole thing was over, they decided to give me that blasted Star of Terra. Just before the ceremony, Anderson approached me and told me I had a choice - I could get any post I wanted, or I could go on to N School and try for N7 rating. I chose N School."

"Because of the Commander?" Tali asked.

Jane shook her head. "No, though that was a consideration at the time. I chose it because my dad was in N School at the time he died. He only made it to N4. I'd hoped one day to have the chance to fulfill his dream for myself."

An awkward silence fell then, and Jane sighed. _Never fails_. Over the years, any time she mentioned, even in passing, about her dad or her mom and what their fates had been, something like this occurred. _Time to switch things up a bit._ "So, Williams, got any hobbies?"

Williams snickered. "I don't suppose shooting geth counts?"

Jane glanced over at John who was clearly suppressing a laugh. "Not this time, no," Jane replied.

Sighing dramatically, Williams affected a small pout. "Damn. Well, can't blame a girl for trying, right? Aside from that, well … then I'd have to say … poetry." After a moment or two of silence, the Chief spoke up:

"_I am a part of all that I have met;_

_Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'_

_Gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades_

_For ever and for ever when I move._

_How dull it is to pause, to make an end."_

Jane grinned as she listened, nodding a little as Williams recited the lines. When the Chief finished, she remarked, "Tennyson, right?"

Williams seemed surprised. "Uh, yeah. _Ulysses_," she added. "One of my dad's favorites."

John chuckled. "Jane likes poetry too," he announced.

Jane stuck her tongue out in his direction. "You just can't keep any secrets, can you?" she demanded, though there was no heat in the words.

"Hey," he protested, "I don't know about that particular one, but there's that one you like to recite to me all the time -"

"Hardly," she interjected. "And that would be Whitman."

"_Oh Captain, My Captain_, by any chance?" Alenko asked.

Jane nodded. "Always a favorite." Glancing down the length of the table, Jane asked, "Wrex, what about you? Any krogan poets out there we should know about?"

The krogan looked over at John after finishing a mouthful of food. "She's joking, right?" he rumbled.

"Actually, no."

"Heh." Wrex took another mouthful and chewed it, swallowing before he finally responded. "The number of krogan poets out there is even fewer than the number of krogan 'scientists' working on a genophage cure."

"Which is to say," Garrus chimed in, "none."

"Exactly."

Turning her attention, Jane asked "What about you, Tali? Do you have any hobbies?"

The quarian tapped her fingers on the tabletop for a moment, considering. "I suppose you could say … working with engines."

"But that's work!" Williams protested. "What do you do for _FUN_?"

Tali's masked face turned towards each of them briefly. "That's what I do for fun, too," she explained. "I've always been fascinated by how things work. The mechanics. The processes. Why does something do what it does?" She shrugged.

"I can understand that," John told her. "I'm the same. I want to know what makes things 'tick.'"

"When I was a kid," Garrus offered, "I used to work on mods all the time. Even put some of them to use when I was serving my time in the military."

Williams turned towards the turian. "You and I need to talk then," she told him. "I've got a few mods downstairs, but they certainly could use some … fine tuning, shall we say?"

Garrus nodded. "I'd be glad to."

"Got anything to add more kick to a shotgun?" Wrex asked.

"Same here," Tali chimed in. When Wrex gave her a scowling look, Jane swore she could almost hear the huff in the quarian's tone. "What? A girl's gotta defend herself _some_how!"

Amid chuckles and full out laughter, the conversation continued now refocusing on weapons and mods and suggested tactics and all, Jane's eyes met John's across the table as she smiled. It was then that he knew she'd planned this. Or, at least planned it as well as she could have given the circumstances. Get people talking, let them learn about each other, have them become comfortable around one another and then when it came to working together, things would be easier. Smiling back, John moved his head a fraction of an inch in a nod. _And this is why she is the Spectre_, he realized. Though it was doubtful that the rest of their mission would be this easy, at least things had gotten off to a good start.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Sorry for the delay – I discovered I needed to organize my thoughts about this story a bit more than I had so far! What that comes down to is this: Destiny's Road is the first in three fics that will follow John and Jane Shepard through the events in game (and some author inspired and related ones). Destiny's Road will concentrate on events in Mass Effect; Destiny's Hand will focus on Mass Effect 2; and Destiny's Fate will focus on Mass Effect 3.**_

_**Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

"Artemis Tau," Jane mused softly over Joker's shoulder as the _Normandy_ exited the Mass Relay and settled into the Sparta system. "Named for the Greek goddess of forests and hills."

"You're not one of those book-wormy types, are you, Commander? Always spouting off odd facts with the tagline, 'anyone can always stand to learn something new?'"

A deep chuckle across the bridge rumbled for a moment before John spoke up. "She's always been a reader, Joker."

"Knowledge is its own weapon," Jane replied. Glancing down at the helmsman, she switched back to the matter at hand, asking, "What do the preliminary scans show?"

Hands manipulating several different interfaces in quick succession, Joker retrieved a screen he now pushed far to the left for her to look at. "There it is," he told her. "Five planets, two asteroid belts, crapton of room for chaos gone wild …."

Jane patted his shoulder gently as she straightened, reaching over to pull out an additional interface screen with a mapped projection. "No," she told him firmly.

"Aww, c'mon, Commander," the pilot pouted. "I never get to have any fun."

It took a few minutes, comparing the written information with the visual map, but she soon found what she was looking for. Pointing, she told him, "That one."

With an over exaggerated sigh, Joker pressed a few buttons. "There." There was still a hint of a pout in his tone, but that was followed by a pause. "Hmm, seems to be a general distress beacon emitting from the planet's surface," he told her after a moment.

Jane glanced over towards John. "Our asari archaeologist?" she asked.

John frowned as he joined her and read over the information. "If so, she's not very good at hunting down Prothean ruins," he observed. "This planet's mostly just a floating rock for interstellar target practice, from the looks of things."

Jane nodded, agreeing silently. This planet made meteor showers look as common as torrential downpours in a tropical forest. "Still, we need to check out that distress beacon," she replied.

"Agreed. Who do you want to take?"

"Before you decide that," Joker interjected, passing yet another data screen over for their perusal, "you might want to see this."

Jane sighed as she read the information and heard John chuckling behind her. Lifting her brow, she gazed back at him. "Seriously?" she murmured. "Do you know how much more time that will add to this trip?"

He grinned. "Hey, _some_one has to like doing that sort of thing," he replied.

She responded by sticking her tongue out at him. "You're going to utterly _destroy_ my efficiency rating. You do know that, don't you? Alright Joker, take us in to," she checked the map again, "Edolus. In order to use our time to its best advantage, while we're groundside I want you and Pressly doing further scans of the other planets in the system. We'll contact you for pickup when we're through."

"Yes, ma'am," the pilot replied. "ETA: twenty minutes."

Turning to her husband, Jane poked him in his chest and announced, "_You_ get to lead the mineral-searching ground team. Take Garrus and Tali with you. Alenko, Williams, Wrex and I will head over to check out the distress beacon."

His grin widened as he drew a hand up quickly to salute. "Yes, ma'am!" A moment later, he was walking down the hall towards the staircases leading below, no doubt planning to call together the ground team to head down to suit up before entering the Mako. In the meantime, Jane had to brief Pressly on the variation in plans ….

~ 0 ~

"Commander …?"

Jane bit back a smile as she drove the Mako along, their current load half what it had been upon landing. After making certain they could maintain communications with John's team (the discovery that the constant meteor showers was affecting their ability to keep contact with the _Normandy_ an annoyance that would (hopefully) be remedied as soon as the ship was within range again), Jane had taken her team and headed off towards the distress beacon. The terrain wasn't the best. However, she pointedly ignored the grumps and groans and protesting type noises coming from her squad as she drove along, instead offering, "Hey, trust me - I'm the better driving Shepard."

"Oh God - if the Skipper's driving is half as bad as his ability to find his way places, I can believe it!" Williams groaned.

"It is," Alenko muttered tightly, his hand shooting out to grasp hold of the dashboard before him.

Jane chuckled softly while pulling to a slow crawl at the top of the latest rise. "Had the opportunity to be on a ground team with him before, hmm, Alenko?"

Respectfully, Kaidan remained silent, intently staring at the radar screen before him.

"When am I going to get something to shoot at with this thing?"

Outright laughing now, Jane glanced back over her shoulder at the disgruntled krogan. "Just hang on, Wrex," she advised. "We don't know what we're getting into down here."

"There's the beacon." Alenko's voice pulled her attention forward once again.

Eyeing the landscape before them, Jane frowned. Quite suddenly, the land before them dropped off from hilly, almost mountain-esque type ridges into a flat and wide opened space. And in the middle of it ….

"Damn."

"Well said, Chief," Jane echoed softly. She sat there for another long moment, her lip pulled between her teeth, worrying it back and forth. _Something isn't right here …._ Her gut instinct - the same one that had kicked in back when she and Alenko had approached Dr. Michel's medical clinic - was screaming at her. She glanced over at the Staff Lieutenant. "Are you picking up anything else, LT?"

He shook his head. "No, ma'am. Standard Alliance-issue distress beacon. No specifics given at all regarding the nature of the emergency."

Jane sighed, but Williams spoke up. "Kahoku's men, perhaps? He said he'd sent them out this way, didn't he?"

Jane nodded once. "Possible, I suppose," she agreed. _But damn, I hope not._

"If it is," Wrex told them, "he's not going to like the results." The krogan used the viewfinder of the Mako's top loading cannon to look in closer. "I see bodies lying on the ground, but there's no movement."

Releasing her lip from her teeth, Jane nodded again. "That's what I was afraid of." She sighed. Wide open space. Absolutely no signs of trouble other than the distress beacon, a clearly abandoned vehicle and a few bodies lying around. Glancing over at Alenko, she murmured, "Trap?"

The Lieutenant nodded. "That's what I take from it," he admitted.

"Who the hell would _do_ such a thing?" the Chief asked.

Jane started the Mako forward slowly, her gut still jumping. "I dunno, Chief," she returned.

The rumbling sound that began to fill the enclosed space a minute or two later had nothing to do with the Mako itself, but rather the laughter krogan manning the weapons. "I do," he told them as Jane brought the vehicle onto the flat surface.

Jane was about to ask him what he meant when she felt the ground beneath them suddenly begin to churn. Motion alarms began going off inside the vehicle and before she could even blink, she felt the Mako tossed up into the air. "Brace for impact!" she shouted just before they reconnected with the surface.

~ 0 ~

Even though he had his helmet on, Kaidan could feel blood trickling down the side of his head. For the moment, though, that seemed to be the worst of it. He knew an additional assortment of bruises would follow - he could already feel the ache in his shoulders from where the seatbelts had held him back against the force of the impact - but for now he would be alright. "Williams?" he rasped out, reaching for the latch so he could get free. "Wrex? Commander?"

A soft and female sounding groan came from behind him where Williams had been sitting. "I'm … okay, LT," she managed after a moment, but he noted quickly she did not move.

The Mako had landed, miraculously enough, on its wheels, so as he broke loose from his restraints, Kaidan simply turned to face her. "Broken bones?" he asked while bringing up his omni-tool and starting a medical scan. "Anything serious?" The program beeped its results a couple of moments later.

"Nah." With each passing moment, Williams' voice sounded stronger, he observed. That could only be a good sign. "I've had worse on a daily basis from my sisters back home. Worry about the Commander and Wrex," she told him.

The ground beneath them began to rumble again, though not as strongly as before. Kaidan's eyes drifted beyond Williams to the red suited krogan lying on the floor. "Can you check on him while I check the Commander?"

"I can try," Williams replied.

While she did that, Kaidan moved over beside Shepard. "Commander," he called out, his omni-tool beginning a scan of her injuries. "Commander, can you hear -"

"Got it, Lieutenant," she murmured groggily, her voice slow as it responded.

Kaidan scanned the report his omni-tool brought up. "Slow and easy, Commander," he advised, reaching out to assist her with the latch to her belt. "You've got -"

"I'm good," she insisted, cutting him off as she began to move forward, though she was holding her left arm close to her side.

Kaidan frowned. The way in which she moved almost too careful; her arm held tightly against her side, too familiar. "Commander," he pointed out quietly so as not to alert Williams or the now grumbling krogan that anything was out of the ordinary, "you've got a dislocated shoulder."

Jane winced as she turned in her seat, finally facing him fully. "Well … aware of that, LT," she bit out through obvious pain.

She began to extend her arm slowly, just off to the side to assess the damage for herself when the ground began rumbling yet again beneath them, this time with more force than before. Jane blinked back another wave of pain as the Mako lurched suddenly. Kaidan's arm shot out to help keep her from falling off the chair, but what caught his attention more than the ground shaking around them was the sudden loud bellow from the back of the vehicle.

"What … the hell …?"

Ignoring the Commander's exclamation, instinct had Kaidan's defenses rising, the tell-tale bluish haze of his biotics beginning to shimmer and form around him as he moved between the Commander and whatever threat the clearly angered krogan might impose. Williams, he saw, was pushed roughly aside, though she didn't seem too shaken as Wrex launched himself to his feet, his hand reaching for his gun. But where Kaidan had thought he might end up having to meet the krogan's gaze and hopefully talking the mercenary down from whatever his intentions might be, he found instead … empty air. From one moment to the next, Wrex barrelled through the door to the Mako, lumbering down to the ground (did Kaidan simply imagine the shaking caused by his landing?) and then turning to rush headlong out towards the open space before them all the while roaring one loud, stinging battle cry after another.

"Jesus Christ!"

Kaidan's eyes found Williams' again. "You okay?" He moved to the side when he felt the Commander's hand come to rest on his shoulder, pressing firmly there. Turning back, he murmured, "Sorry, Commander. Let's get you taken …."

The Mako rocked sharply again, nearly falling over to the side this time causing all three of them to lose balance. Williams' string of curses from the back assured Kaidan that she was alright, but a sharp cry of pain from the Commander as the Mako landed on all wheels yet again brought her injury to the forefront. He had to help her get that arm back in place before anything else.

"Commander, I need to -"

She winced, but nodded. "Do it," she rasped. "Quick."

More roaring outside, this time from a different source, had all three hesitating and glancing out through the virtual windows.

"Holy shit!"

"Williams, get out there and help him," the Commander ordered.

"On it, Commander!"

Kaidan yanked his gaze back to the Commander. "Ma'am, I -"

"Do it," she ordered, turning so he could move her left arm as necessary. "If we don't do it now, I'll pay for it later. I know that from experience."

Kaidan sighed. "Right." Moving quickly but carefully, he took position, lining her arm up and making certain everything was done properly before he moved. To her credit, he noted to himself, she made not a sound, said not a word. Once he had it back in place as well as he could, he found the first aid kit and strapped her arm to her torso as best he could. As far as field dressings went, it likely wasn't the best plan of action. However, it would have to do. Proper treatment would have to wait until they were back on the ship.

"Let's … go," she finally told him after he'd stowed the medical kit back in it's place.

"But, ma'am …?" He caught a glare of anger and irritation, though he wasn't certain if it was directed at him or just as a result of the pain of the injury, and so he backed off.

"Go help Wrex and Williams," she told him. "I'll be right behind you."

Reaching for his assault rifle, Kaidan exited the Mako while wondering just where reality had stopped and insanity had taken over ….

~ 0 ~

Jane stumbled as she exited the Mako, but she maintained her balance by leaning against the vehicle. As she watched Alenko head off to assist the krogan and the Chief in their battle against the thresher maw, she tapped at her comm link. "John?"

There was a burst of static, a pause that seemed to carry on into next week, and then the hauntingly familiar tones. "I read you."

"We're barely two clicks north-northwest of you," she yelled, hoping her voice would carry over the background noises surrounding her. "We -"

"Jane, what the hell -"

"- need you here," she continued without interruption. "ASAP!"

"On our way."

Turning towards the battle before her, Jane slowly made her way towards her team. She might not be able to use a weapon at the moment, but she _could_ use her biotics, for whatever good that might do.

Wrex, as Jane was coming to realize, was doing what he did best: getting up close and personal. And while Alliance knowledge of these beasts was limited at best, the krogan seemed to have some specific ideas on what would work, suggesting that he had more extensive experience with them. She made a mental note to ask him about that later. In the meantime, armed with his shotgun and his biotics, the krogan battlemaster put on a display that Jane found she could only admire.

Williams was putting in a good effort too, though she remained somewhat back from the maw, trying to stay out of immediate proximity if Jane had to guess. SOP for Alliance trained marines. Staying in the Mako might have been better, though, as she heard a loud and thoroughly angry protest escape the Gunnery Chief's lips a moment later and acid from the maw splattered onto her armor and ate through the layers.

Alenko had moved around to the right, Jane noticed. He, like Wrex, was utilizing a combined technique of biotics peppered in with bursts from his assault rifle. The one benefit to his current position, Jane could see, was that he was out of immediate threat of damage from the maw with his position behind the creature. Which was good, as his armor - like her own - was much lighter weight than either Williams or Wrex. Jane doubted it would stand up well to a maw's acid attack.

Jane moved in as close as she dared before she began her limited attacks. _Your are only as strong as your weakest link_, she recalled one of her DIs telling her years before. _Well, today I'm the weakest link in this chain_, she mused. Not only could she not use her weapons - possibly her pistol if absolutely necessary, but she had little doubt that such a tiny weapon would do no damage at all to a thing this huge - but she was limited to only a few biotic moves. Each move required a mnemonic, and her training had prepared her to make such mnemonics with either right or left hand. She was therefore limited to the moves she knew with her right hand. Growling out anger and frustration at such limitations, Jane prepared herself to use her Throw and Lift as best she could and hoped it would be enough ….

~ 0 ~

Duck. Shoot. Duck again. Roll right. Shoot again. Drop and roll left. Shoot _again_. Repeat.

Ashley had about had it with this thing. She'd never met a thresher maw before, but it had become instantly clear that Wrex _had_. In between battle cries and attacks, she could hear the krogan shouting. It wasn't always clear what he was saying, though she heard definite challenges in his tone.

_Do maws even get that?_ she couldn't help but wonder while ducking, dropping and rolling back to her right this time.

When checking upon Wrex back in the Mako, Ash could admit she'd been a bit worried at first. The krogan had been out cold. She'd seen no signs of breathing, had no way of knowing if he'd even been alive until he'd begun grumbling and then suddenly and nearly violently bolted upwards, bellowing louder than a Canadian moose in heat (okay, _that_ she'd have to tell Alenko later, just for the look on his face) before ramming his way out of the vehicle. He hadn't paused or hesitated or slowed down in any way, despite having just been knocked cold (could krogans be completely knocked cold?). Nope. All he'd done was sniff out the battle like a dog did his bone. Ash would have said she'd been impressed …

… until the Commander had ordered her out after him and then she'd had to face what he was facing.

But at least Wrex seemed to have a clue what he was fighting. Oh, she knew it was a thresher maw, but Alliance intel on these creatures was severely limited. They'd only found out about them with the debacle on Akuze not even … what? Six years before? Seven?

Wrex bellowed louder still and Ash saw Alenko ducking behind the maw, so she rolled to her left before dropping to a knee and firing off a couple of shots with her assault rifle. Up ahead of her, she noted the sort of blue glimmery, shimmery aura that Wrex took on as he flared up his biotics - she was getting used to having this element available in a battle now that she'd been in a few fights with the Commander and Alenko. She didn't know much about it, not being one herself or having served with many over the years, but the fact that the maw seemed to scream out in some sort of reaction - pain, perhaps? - was enough for her.

Until she was knocked over by the backwash of an energy wave, the reverberating echoes of an explosive blast of some sort making her ears ring….

~ 0 ~

_In theory_, facing a thresher maw on foot, face to face was feasible. But _theory_ often gave way to altogether different _facts_ and Kaidan wasn't quite relegate himself to becoming just a number listed in a report to be filed away for the ages.

Not yet, anyway.

_Besides,_ he told himself as he paused a heartbeat or three to spurt off another couple of rounds from his weapon, _I've gotten out of worse situations than this before._

That he'd dealt with that particular 'situation' by allowing his control free reign was something he forced to the back of his mind just now. He wasn't about to revisit _that_ all over again. Not at this stage of the game.

Kaidan saw Williams go down suddenly and prepared to move back around so that the maw could view him as a target and thereby giving her time to recover. Belatedly, however, he realized it had been a controlled move. From his right, he heard Wrex bellowing, the reports of his shotgun echoing among the shrill roars of the maw above them. Taking the moment offered by the krogan as an opportunity, he opened fire from the maw's opposite side.

Then again ….

_In theory_, his brain started reciting once again as the flash of power came flying in immediately after Wrex threw up a Warp_, the application of certain types of biotic attacks in conjunction with others should resulting in an explosion of force._

"Stay down!" he shouted at Williams just before he felt himself thrown backwards by the raw power of residual explosive energy.

~ 0 ~

John didn't waste time glancing back for his companions. From the moment he'd ordered Garrus and Tali to follow, they'd kept as quick a pace as they could across the terrain. John could admit he wasn't surprised that Garrus was able to keep up. He was fairly familiar turian culture, in how they began military service at age fifteen. Garrus might have been in service with C-Sec when they met, but he was still in good shape and remained within a step or two of the N7 the entire way.

And then there was Tali. Intelligent and yet spunky as hell, John was continuously finding one reason after another to like the young quarian. Her knowledge of ship engines came close to surpassing the best the Alliance had. Her resolute outlook on life in general, and the state of the quarians more specifically was something he found he could admire greatly. And then there was her choice of weapons. Already, they had taken opportunity to discuss at length the benefits of various types of shotguns, mods and other adjustments to their individual weapons. The only other one of their squadmates who used one on a regular enough basis and occasionally gave his input into the discussion was ….

"_I am Urdnot Wrex!"_

John heard the outraged krogan bellow as he slowed his steps and crested the top of the rise. The view before them dropped suddenly and opened wide before them.

"Spirits!" Garrus rasped in stunned awe as he came to a stop beside John.

"Keelah!" Tali's echoing exclamation confirmed that she had indeed kept the pace. Then a moment later, her arm shot out, pointing across in front of John. "There!"

John's eyes followed, eyes marking the line of extension from Tali's fingers out towards center … coming to rest on the scene before them. He couldn't see the details from their current position, but it was clear that Jane and her squad were fighting for their lives. "Come on!" he shouted over the shrieking wail of the creature before them. Training identified the beast, of course, but for one who had never seen a thresher maw in person before, it was an awe inspiring sight.

They were nearly there, John noticed, and he had just spotted his wife stumbling off to his right, falling hard to her knees as she used one of her trusted biotic moves … but the explosion of power and sound and resultant shock wave of energy taking down nearly everyone in the process was unexpected. Close enough that he caught the tail end of the fading shock, John belatedly realized that the maw had fallen backwards, landing with a thunderous crash and causing the ground to shake violently around them.

Turning to Garrus and Tali, he ordered, "Go check on Alenko, Williams and Wrex," before he hurried to Jane's side.

Before he reached her, John recognized that something was wrong. Her left arm was crudely strapped to her torso. "Jane!"

Dazed green eyes turned towards him. "You … missed all the fun …," she gasped, dropping into his arms a moment later.

"What happened?"

"Maw," she told him. "Flipped the Mako." Jane coughed, groaning softly and folding in on herself at the pain this caused her shoulder. "Dislocated my shoulder, too."

John grimaced, though he didn't let her see his reaction. "Yeah, kinda figured that out when I saw it strapped," he told her. Glancing around, he saw Wrex wandering over to investigate the remnants of the thresher maw. Tali was assisting Williams to her feet, and Garrus appeared to be having an in depth discussion with Alenko about … well, something John couldn't decipher from the hand motions from this distance. If it was important, they would inform him later, he supposed.

A second scan of the area and John realized that there were additional bodies, other equipment. "Tali!" He hailed the quarian and gestured towards the transmitter. She nodded and both she and Williams headed over to investigate. "Kahoku's men?" he asked, his attention dropping back to his wife.

Jane took a deep breath and nodded before pushing herself back from his chest. Carefully, she drew a knee up, leaning weight upon it while at the same time holding onto his shoulder and pushing upwards. "Seems like," she grunted as she moved.

John followed her up, remaining steady and in place as long as she needed to lean against him. "I'm good," she finally told him, offering a weak smile of reassurance, but a smile nonetheless.

Garrus and Alenko crossed to join Tali and Williams near the other vehicle, the turian pausing to investigate one of the bodies along the way. "Commander?" he called out after a moment, his eyes finding Jane's. "I think you'll want to see this."

Jane darted a quick look up at John who nodded and followed her over. "What is it?" she asked.

Garrus gently turned the body, pointing to a spot on the back of the neck. Jane's brow lifted at the implication as her eyes met his. The turian nodded before rising to check the other bodies. Once completed, he returned, announcing, "It was a trap, Commander. I'd say from the evidence surrounding us, these two soldiers here," he pointed to the two nearest the transmitter, "were deliberately shot and left, the transmitter broadcasting it's distress call. The others," he pointed to several others over beside the broken down vehicle that showed obvious signs of damage, "were lured in by the transmitter."

Jane glanced over at John. "You know the Admiral better than I do," she told him.

John shook his head. "He's not going to take this well," he replied. "Beyond that … I just don't know. He didn't tell you what they were out here for?"

Jane shook her head. "Just that they were on a recon mission." Sighing softly, she stared off into the distance, her gaze unfocused as she thought things over. "We'll need to go back and speak with him about this," she decided. "Sooner rather than later, I expect."

On the far side of the clearing, John saw Alenko heading towards the Mako where they had left it. Hoping the Lieutenant was going to make the call to the _Normandy_, John glanced back at his wife. "Sooner as in, we give up looking for Dr. T'Soni to do so, or do you want to complete that mission first?"

"We're here, right?" Williams' voice broke in as she joined them. Looking over at Jane, she added, "Tali has disconnected the distress signal, Commander. No more luring in unwitting souls like the Sirens of Anthemoessa."

"Indeed."

A shout from across the way had Jane turning to find Alenko waving them over. "I got a hold of the _Normandy_," he announced. "They should be here to pick us up in about fifteen minutes."

Jane nodded. "Good. Let's get ready to depart then." As the others withdrew, gathering up weapons and other gear they did not want left behind, Jane took one more long look out over the scene before them and wondered just how in the hell she was going to come up with a way to describe what had just happened.


	6. Chapter 6

"But, doctor -"

Karin Chakwas turned to stare down her patient's protests. "Absolutely not, Commander," she enunciated clearly. "It has been less than a week since you injured your arm, at this time I am not prepared to give you medical clearance."

Not one for open displays of ill temperament, Jane simply clenched her right hand into a tight fist as her eyes narrowed further. Words would have to be her weapon of choice in this battle. "Doctor, I _have_ to go on this mission."

The older woman shook her head. "No, Commander, you do not."

"As skilled as you might be, doctor, I do not think your abilities in the field are anything in comparison to -"

"Commander," Chakwas insisted, her tone gentling a little bit but still filled with warning, "if you wish to be of any use out on the battlefield, you must give yourself the time to heal. Now, I know you have been doing what you can to that end of things, and you _are_ healing rather well, all things considered. However, nothing can replace the fact that you still need more time. Sit this mission out. Let someone else lead it. Because I can guarantee you, if you do not do so, you will not be leading the mission to find Dr. T'Soni when _that_ time arrives!"

Rolling her eyes, Jane bit back a grumble. She knew the doctor had every right to ground her because of her injury, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Finding a way to refrain from pounding her fist on the doctor's desk in an expression of that frustration and anger, she turned to exit the medical bay instead. Belatedly, as she was just stepping outside of the room, she called, back, "Thank you for your time, doctor."

Venturing across the deck, Jane ducked inside the cabin she and John shared. He wasn't there at the moment, which was just as well, so she chose to lie down for a short while before it was her duty to take over in the duty shift in the CIC. A short nap, as awkward as it would be with her arm still in the sling the doctor was making her wear, would still be better than pacing the halls and annoying the rest of the crew to pass the time.

~ 0 ~

John entered the cabin as quietly as he could. Dr. Chakwas had messaged him a short time before to inform him of her decision as well as the Spectre's reaction to that decision. Though it had been a guess on his part, he had suspected Jane would retreat to their cabin. Where else would she be when she was nowhere else to be found on the ship? And ever since they'd met when they were kids, Jane had often gone in search of a darkened room in which to think whenever she was troubled. By this point in their lives, it was usually the first place he would look for her whenever she wasn't by his side.

A moment of nostalgia caught him as he spotted her on the far side of the room lying on the bed. She was partially sprawled in a diagonal fashion across the mattress, an awkward position given her injury, but he knew she preferred lying on her stomach as she slept and this was the closest that she could come to such a position right now. Still, with sleep softening her facial features, he found it to be quite the endearing picture. He was tempted to capture a photograph of her with his omni-tool - just something he could have for those times in future when they'd be separated by duty once again - but in the end, he decided he didn't want to face her wrath when she found out.

And if there was one thing about Jane, she _ALWAYS_ found out. That red hair and her temper were a force to be reckoned with for anyone who just happened to set her off ….

"Hey."

John found a smile as he heard her voice, groggy and rough with sleep. Crossing to sit beside her, he dropped a hand to brush the loose strands of copper away from her eyes. "Hey," he replied. "How are you feeling?"

Jane slowly moved to a semi-reclined position. Sighing, she gave him a dry look. "How should one who's been grounded feel?" she countered.

John cocked his head to the side. Though he already knew the answer, he pretended otherwise to see what she would be willing to tell him. "Dr. Chakwas?"

Jane nodded. "Basically told me that if I want to be a part of the mission when we find our elusive archaeologist, I need to stay ship bound this trip." Her eyes rose to meet his and John was not surprised to find a hint of mischief twinkling there.

"Why do I get the impression this mission's not all it seems?" he asked.

"Now, why would you be thinking that?"

"Inside source," he returned immediately, winking. "A little birdie told me."

He saw her smile turn to something slightly more amused as she chuckled softly. So far, so good. "Uh huh."

When she began to sit up, he moved so she had the space she needed. It was only as she reached a hand out to him that he pulled her the rest of the way to her feet. "So … if you're staying shipside …?"

He saw her lips tilt on the right side, the smirk she gave him causing his own grin to form. "Not very subtle there, John," she murmured.

"Subtlety's above my pay grade," he replied. She laughed a bit more fully this time. "Seriously, though. If you're not going, how do you want to do this?"

He followed her across the room as she stepped in front of the mirror and ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to tame the wildness that sleep had caused. "You," she replied, her eyes meeting his in the reflective glass. "Who else?"

"Well, I wasn't going to assume …."

Another laugh. Turning, she leaned up to brush a light kiss across his lips - a move that he had half been expecting for a few minutes now. Sliding an arm around her waist, he held her there for a few seconds longer than absolutely necessary. Marriage had it's privileges, after all.

"I'm on duty in -" she glanced at her omni-tool, "ten. Let's head on up and pull up what information we have available."

"We entered the Macedon system about a half hour ago," he told her. "Joker ought to have something ready by now, even if it's only the basics."

They made their way to the bridge, passing through the CIC where Jane relieved Pressly from his watch before they continued on to visit with Joker. The pilot was ready and waiting for them, gesturing over towards one of the nearby seats. "Information's all there for you, Commander," he told Jane. "We're about to begin running more detailed scans of the planets."

"Which one first?" Jane asked as she slid into the seat. John moved to stand over her. They knew which planet they were looking for.

"Fargeluse," the pilot replied. "Hell of a name for a planet if you ask me, though."

Jane glanced up at John, mirth dancing in her eyes. John grinned back. "I'll be sure to advise the Council in my next report," she countered lightly.

Turning her full attention to the screens before her, Jane began reading. It was a few minutes before John's arm reached across her shoulder and pointed towards the center of the map. "There it is. Sharjila."

Jane sat back in her seat, good hand resting at the side of her chair and tapping along the arm in a rhythmic pattern as she thought. There was still something about this mission that bothered her.

"What?" Her eyes lifted to meet his again in question. "You're getting your, 'I don't like this,' look again," John pointed out.

"I am not," she muttered, turning back to face the console.

John leaned over, his chin coming to rest gently above her right shoulder so that he only had to murmur to be heard. "How long have I known you?"

Sighing, Jane rolled her eyes. "John, don't start that again," she advised.

"Answer the question."

"No."

"Because you know I'm right."

Turning, she faced him once more. "And just how do you figure that?" she asked. "There's nothing wrong with being cautious about this mission. Especially given the dicey nature by which the information came to us to begin with." Which was true enough. The request, a private message that had been sent on an encrypted channel, had come from an asari back on the Citadel. Though not one with whom either Shepard was familiar, it had been vague enough in nature to set Jane's teeth on edge. _A kidnapped sister. Mercenaries. A ransom paid but no one released._

"You are being overly cautious," John returned. "Probably because the doctor has grounded you. You can't tell me you wouldn't be raring to go if you were at 100%."

But Jane wasn't so sure. Out of the two of them, she might be the one who could deal with the political side of things better (she had no doubts that had played a huge part in why she had been selected as a candidate for Spectre), but when it came right down to it, Jane hated politics. The lies, the back handed dealings, the double talk. All of it. Over the years, it had jaded her view of such things, too. "Just … be careful, okay?" she finally responded. "There's something about this one that -"

John's hand at her shoulder squeezed gently. "There's _always_ something about each mission for you," he murmured. "That's the nature of a cynic. That's also why you always come back safe." Straightening behind her, he added, "How many do you want me to take?"

"You and three others," Jane replied immediately. He might be changing the topic slightly, but she wasn't falling for the distraction. And there was also the fact she had been giving this some thought ever since the message had come through. "Who do you have in mind?"

John considered for a moment. "Well, I was thinking a little bit of everything, just to make sure we have our bases covered since we have no clear idea of what we'll find down there."

"Except for the minerals," Jane muttered.

John's chuckle wasn't exactly appreciated, but it _was_ expected. "Except for them," he agreed. "You know, one of these days, you're going to have to tell me the story behind why you hate having to do those."

Jane turned and flashed him a weak smile. "You'll have to get me drunk first," she retorted. "And distracted enough to forget why I don't tell you."

John winked as he turned to leave. "I can arrange that."

As he departed the bridge, Jane sank back in her chair. "Joker, after we finish with Fargeluse, head on towards Sharjila. We might as well get this over with."

"Yes, Commander."

Rising from her seat, Jane traced her husband's path through to the CIC. Once they reached the planet, it was going to make for a long day. She just hoped she could find some sort of distraction from her worries while he and the rest of the team was planetside.

~ 0 ~

Some hours later, Jane stood off by the lockers as the others prepared for departure. Sharjila posed a level one pressure hazard, so extra care was taken to make certain every seal on everyone's armor was in operating order.

"Alright, mount up."

John's call for his squad to board the Mako had Jane stepping forward. "Leave an open comm," she advised. "I'll monitor your progress from the bridge."

"Yes, Mom."

Jane rolled her eyes, but she managed a small smile. Barely. She hated being left behind like this, and he knew it. She also wouldn't deny that niggling doubt in the back of her mind. She was missing something somewhere, she just knew it.

"We'll be back before you know it, Dahlia Dantius in tow," he promised just before ducking inside the vehicle.

Jane peeked in, her eyes falling upon the members of his team. It was a group with a relatively safe balance of firepower from Williams, tech from John, and biotics combined with combat expertise from Alenko and Wrex. It had the makings of a good team. "Good luck," she told them before ducking back out and sealing the door. A moment later, she pounded her hand on the side of the vehicle twice to alert them they were good to go just before she began backing out of the way. By the time she reached the elevator and had stepped inside, the shuttle door was opening to allow the Mako to exit out into Sharjila's atmosphere.

On her way back to the bridge, Jane ducked through the galley to make herself a cup of tea first. She forced herself to do it properly - heating the water, taking the time to scoop up the tea into the infuser and set it aside, searching out the cream and sugar. Fifteen minutes later, she continued her journey upwards, mug in hand.

Slipping into the co-pilot's seat on the bridge, Jane adjusted the comm volume so she could hear the chatter below.

"_Alenko, get the beacon out and set it."_

"_On it, Commander."_

There was a moment of crackle filled silence, the static almost friendly in it's familiarity before John's voice could be heard again.

"_Wrex, I want you and Williams patrolling the perimeter."_

Jane presumed the grunting noise she heard was Wrex acknowledging the request. A few minutes passed in which Jane sipped at her tea quietly. She was just a bit surprised that the pilot wasn't cracking his usual jokes and all, but given the state of her nerves at the moment - still flittering and fluttering just below the surface - it was likely for the best.

"_What's that sound?" _

Williams' question pulled Jane's attention back to the connection. Not for the first time, Jane wished the comm links provided a wider access to the surrounding area, not just what the people using them had to say.

"_Sounds like some sort of animal."_

"_I suppose you might have come across some strange ones over the years, huh?"_

The rumble of Wrex's laughter had Jane smiling just a bit. Damn, but that krogan seemed unflappable. Despite being shaken up at the time, Jane remembered fairly well just how fast and … enthusiastic he had been against that thresher maw. Boy, that had been a sight to watch ….

"_Wrex, Williams - let's go."_

John's voice sounded, well, normal. Jane sighed softly. _As it should_, she thought. No, her concerns were not over the mineral searches or the like, but rather what they might face when they reached the merc hideout that Dantius had given them the coordinates of. Something still rankled with that, but Jane couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Everything alright, Commander?"

Jane put tremendous effort into not jumping in her seat at the sudden arrival of Garrus on the bridge. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts, in the attention she was paying to the comm links, that she'd pushed everything else out of her mind. Not a very safe plan she knew, even if she was well protected aboard her own ship. "Just monitoring the mission," she assured him while skipping around the question.

"You seem a bit … distracted."

Jane blinked and turned to face the turian. Just how long had he been standing there? Their eyes locked and held for a long moment, until finally, Jane nodded slightly, conceding … something to him. Exactly what that was, though, she didn't quite know. "It's nothing," she told him finally, though she wasn't certain she sounded convinced.

However, if he thought so, he said nothing about it. Though, he _did_ remain standing just inside the entryway.

The crackling of the comm link broke the silence, the voices of the ground team breaking through, but from the sounds of it they were just investigating the landing site of a crashed probe. Jane could afford to take a few moments away from that. Making a decision, she rose from her seat and led Garrus down the hallway and into the CIC. "Garrus, have you ever come across the name 'Dantius' before?" she asked him after a time.

"Hmm." He was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "Rather prominent asari family, I believe. Built up their name around politics and some sort of family business." He paused and Jane glanced over to see him scratch at his mandible with one of his talons. "If I remember correctly, Nassana Dantius is currently serving as a diplomatic emissary on the Citadel."

Jane nodded. His information seemed to coincide with what she knew so far. Good.

"Might I ask why?"

Jane smiled crookedly. Apparently, she'd triggered his investigative senses if she was reading him right. Or maybe it was just plain curiosity. Either way, she supposed sharing the rest with him wouldn't hurt. After all, if she had worried about that, she would not have begun down this line of discussion at all. And there was always the chance he might offer up something she hadn't thought of.

"Nassana Dantius contacted me just before we departed the Sparta system," Jane explained. "Something about her sister, Dahlia, having been taken hostage by a group of mercs on Sharjila. Nassana said she'd paid the ransom requested, but the mercs who took her had not released her as promised and she asked if we would look into it - _quietly _- for her."

"Quietly," he echoed. Again, Garrus thought for a long moment before nodding. "Makes sense, I guess. I could see why she might reach out to you, as a Spectre, I mean."

"Oh?" That caught her attention.

"Well, she is a diplomat. If she were to approach C-Sec, the Council or anyone else who operates out of the Citadel, questions might arise. Questions that might suggest she is a security risk or something." He paused again. "My guess would be that she presumed you, being a new Spectre and all, wouldn't necessarily know of this the side effects she would have to face otherwise." He shrugged. "It's just a guess on my part."

"It might be a guess," Jane added quietly, "but she likely doesn't know I have a former C-Sec investigator working with me either." She sighed and felt her gut kicking back into high gear again. "Dammit!"

"One who knows and can advise you on standard procedures," he agreed. "Should I assume by your reaction that you don't fully believe what she told you?"

Another sigh and Jane turned to start back up towards the bridge. "Safe bet," she told him.

"Commander, we don't know for a fact that -"

Jane halted mid-stride and turned back to face him. "Maybe it's a rather prejudicial view unique to humans," she admitted, "but the way I see it, politicians are politicians the galaxy over. And through my own personal experiences, I know you can't trust politicians further than you can throw them."

"Throw them?" he echoed. His blinking clearly indicated that he did not understand the reference, but Jane gave him points for trying. "And that means … you don't believe her?" he hedged.

"Exactly." Spinning back around, she hurried to Joker's side. "Joker, we need to get word to them that -"

"They're fighting their way inside, Commander," the pilot announced.

Grinding her teeth together, Jane fought to bite back a curse as she dropped into the co-pilot's seat once again.

"_Wrex, we need cover over here!" John ordered. It was quickly followed by some undecipherable shouts. "Move it!"_

"_Skipper, I'm fine. Just slap some medi-gel on it and -"_

"_Already done, Williams." Alenko's voice sounded calm and controlled. _

"_See, Skipper? All good."_

"_Wrex!"_

Jane recognized the hint of frustration in John's tone. It was subtle, perhaps more just the stress of battle than actual frustration, but she heard it there, embedded, but there.

"_There are two snipers up top," Alenko announced. "They keep ducking back down behind the edge of the wall."_

"_I've got them."_

For the first time in the battle, Jane actually heard Wrex say something. She also heard frustration give way to an exasperated sigh.

"_Wait! We don't know what else - Dammit, Wrex!"_

The krogan's deep chuckle reverberated across the link.

A movement at her left had Jane glancing over to see that Garrus had followed her into the bridge to listen as well. Their eyes met and held for a moment. "Krogan can be stubborn," Garrus observed dryly. "Wrex more so than most."

Jane snorted. "_Now_ you tell me," she replied.

"_There she is!"_

"_Williams, take the shot," John shouted. "Alenko, can't you keep her in place or something?"_

"_I could," Alenko bit out, the sounds of shots ringing out a second later, "but where's the challenge in that?"_

"_Really, LT? You want to play funny man right -"_

"_It's okay, Skipper," Williams assured him. "I've got this." The loud report of a sniper rifle rang out a moment later followed by a whoop of victory from Williams and a disappointed bellow of a krogan. "You don't get ALL the kills, Wrex!"_

As she felt the tension slowly begin to ease from her shoulders, Jane had to admit that at the very least, their ground crew had senses of humor in the battlefield to match the two N7s.

"Well," Garrus mused quietly, "that was interesting."

Jane actually chuckled. "Yeah, I was beginning to suspect Williams had a competitive streak in her."

In the background, they could hear the ground team talking among themselves. But it wasn't until she heard her name called over the comm that the Commander's full attention was brought back to current events.

"Jane."

Leaning over, she pressed the button to reply. "Go ahead, John. I'm here."

"You were right."

Sighing, she pressed the button and told him, "Acknowledged. We'll discuss it when you are back on board."

~ 0 ~

John wasn't surprised to see Jane waiting for them as he climbed out of the Mako. If anything, he was ready for her. Handing over the information he had taken from the safe inside the merc base, he informed her, "Dahlia Dantius wasn't a victim here - she was a slaver. She _ran_ the group."

Jane's eyes narrowed as she scanned through the information. "Just lovely," she muttered.

John moved across to set his weapons on the workbench before removing his armor. "Looks like their little operation was beginning to cause Nassana some personal heartburn, too," he added.

Jane nodded. "Alright. Go get cleaned up. I'll catch up with you later for a more formal debrief." Her eyes were blazing just a bit brighter with anger as she looked over at him. "I have a call to make."

John was watching her stalk across the shuttle bay towards the elevator when he heard Williams step up behind him. "Wow. Don't think I ever want to be on _her_ bad side, huh, Skipper?"

John chuckled, finally removing the rest of his armor. "Trust me, Chief, I can tell you from experience - you _don't_." Alenko laughed as he set his assault rifle and pistol beside Shepard's, but otherwise said nothing.

Pushing those memories aside for the moment, John headed up to the showers then to his cabin and finally, after realizing that Jane was still on her call with Dantius, to stand lurking right outside the conference room. On the other side of the door, he could occasionally pick up the sound of a raised voice, but nothing more clear than that.

The sound of the door hissing as it opened had John straightening a moment or two later. Blue eyes met green as he asked, "Everything go okay?"

The soft snort she let out was one of the tell-tale signs that her current level of cynicism was high. "As expected," she muttered.

"That good, huh?"

She turned to face him just before the staircase leading down to the crew deck. "Well, I managed to work it out a bit to our advantage," she admitted. "In the end, I suppose it's a fair trade, but that manipulative bitch damned well better hope we never run into each other again, because if we ever do …."

John chuckled and followed her back below deck. "She would be a fool to tempt you twice," he pointed out. "And I've no doubt at all you made that clear to her."

"Here's hoping."

John followed her into the mess area where Alenko and Williams were sitting, trays that had at one point been piled high with food were now nearly empty before them. John waved them off when they began to rise. Following Jane over to the galley, he grabbed a tray of food for himself and a cup of coffee while she made herself some tea. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly," she responded, "but I probably should." Besides, she reasoned, forewarned was forearmed.

They both took a seat at the table, and while John tucked into his post-mission meal, Jane messaged Tali, Garrus and Wrex to join them. With their arrival, she then set out explaining the situation - what she and Garrus had discussed, how it tied in with what the ground team had uncovered, and finally bringing in the conversation she'd had with Nasanna.

"In case it hasn't been made clear," Jane concluded as she looked at each one of the steadily, "I will make it so right now. I've no doubt we will be running into others who, for whatever reason, believe that I can be manipulated into doing what they want. Whether this is simply because I'm human or because I'm the first human Spectre or even because they think they have the upper hand doesn't matter. This will _not_ be the case. Is that clear?" Six heads nodded. "Does anyone here take issue with that?"

John took a quick look around at the others and noted shock and bewilderment from most. "We've got your six, Commander," John reassured her. The others nodded their agreement as well.

"Good." Jane's darker, sharper mood finally eased as she cracked a bit of a smile. "Alright then … we have a couple more days in this system, checking out the other planets and investigating the asteroid belts and then it's on to the next one. Our asari scientist is here somewhere, folks. Let's go find her before Saren does."


	7. Chapter 7

It was rare that Jane couldn't find when she needed to. There were very few places aboard ship that he enjoyed spending time. Of those few, engineering was always Jane's first stop because she knew how John and Adams liked to spend time discussing the new IES stealth drive. And her husband teased _HER_ about being the tech head. However, when she arrived, she found that wasn't there. Adams and Tali both were on duty, but when questioned, both reported that they had not seen the other N7 for at least the past few hours.

That led Jane to her second choice: the Crew Deck. John might not be a biotic, but his caloric intake rivaled biotics everywhere. When they'd been kids, Jane had heard his mom curse it at meal times as 'hollow leg syndrome' which had confused Jane at first, but Hannah Shepard had cleared it up by assuring her, "It just means he never stops eating and doesn't gain an ounce." It was also something he had never outgrown. Jane's current inspection of the mess, though, proved to be a fruitless endeavor. Like in engineering, he was not there.

Sighing, Jane paused to reconsider her remaining options. John hated being 'boxed up' - his words, not hers - and so she figured he wouldn't be sitting around in their cabin. Besides, he usually told her when he was going off duty in the off chance they would actually be able to spend some time alone together. Rare as it was, even now aboard the _Normandy_, they had managed a few nights alone, at least for a few hours. But she had not received any message, so she felt pretty safe in assuming he was not there.

So, where then?

Jane avoided the medical bay for now - not only was she unaware of any particular need for John to be there at the moment, but she had no desire to face off with the doctor prematurely. Her sling had come off during the time spent surveying the planets in the Athens System, and ever since Jane had been focused on a series of rehabilitative exercises she'd learned from the last time she'd dislocated the shoulder. She was determined to be ready to go once they located which planet Dr. T'Soni's dig site was on which, given that they'd just entered the Knossos system, the last one they had to explore in the Artemis Tau cluster, should be any time.

The only places left, then, were above deck. Heading up through the CIC, Jane opted to start at the front and work her way back. There was a chance he could be in the conference room, she supposed, but she knew it to be more likely she would find him up front chatting with Joker rather than sitting alone. After all, as he was so fond of pointing out, _she_ was the one who liked to hide out in the dark. Alone. _He_ was the 'people person.'

Her search was not to be completed without interruption, however.

"Commander?"

Jane slowed as she passed Pressly, turning to meet him. "Yes?"

"I think we've got something."

Stepping over beside him, she eyed the results of the latest scan that the navigator was pulling up for her. _Therum_. Rich, industrial, claimed by Systems Alliance. Many prothean ruins scattered all over the planet though many had been looted by mining companies over the years. Therum was also a volcanic world; pools of lava that would have to be maneuvered around.

Jane frowned, her eyes drifting back upwards. If Therum was claimed by the Alliance, why hadn't Anderson or Udina directed them to it specifically? Sighing, she nodded at Pressly. It wouldn't be the first time that Alliance Intel had dropped the ball.

"Commander?"

Jane lifted a hand to her comm link. "Go ahead, Joker."

"I think we might have something," the pilot informed her. "Scans of Therum are showing -"

"I'm with Pressly right now," she replied. "I see it."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure you don't see _this_, Commander. You might want to come up front. Front row seats and all."

Jane's brow lifted in question towards Pressly, but the navigator simply shrugged. "On my way."

The distance between the CIC and the bridge took less than a minute, and Jane found the answer to her earlier question waiting for her when she arrived. Off to the left, John was seated at one of the stations, several holographic interfaces up and waiting for her. "There you are," she murmured as she came to a halt behind him. Then, "So, what do you have for me, Joker?"

The pilot glanced over at her, a smirk tilting his lips. "Geth."

John's arm moved, pointing to a more detailed surface map he'd brought up to his right. Jane glanced over to follow. "Here, here and here," he told her, his fingers tracing a path that matched a raised area above the lava pits below. "Also, we've seen several signs of geth dropships flying in and out over here." The last _HERE_ was an industrial outpost of some sort, according to the label attached to it.

"Joker? Is the IES activated?" Jane asked.

"Yes, ma'am. We should be good for a while yet, too."

Jane's gaze hadn't left the map, and while the pilot was reassuring her that no one could see them while the stealth system was engaged, she'd spotted something. "What's that?" she asked, her finger rising to point at an area another click or two beyond where John had indicated.

"Old mine entrance," he told her. "Been abandoned for a while now from what I've been able to determine."

"An old mine, hmm?" Jane scanned the map again before she straightened and backed up a step. "How deep are the mines?"

John shrugged as he turned to face her. "Probably typical, I'd imagine," he replied.

Their eyes met. "Deep enough to reach prothean ruins below?"

John chuckled and nodded. "Deep enough for that, I expect."

"Activity's picking up, Commanders," Joker broke in. "Looks like another dropship heading in along that same path. Activity has officially reached the 'off the damned charts' level, I'd say."

Jane smiled at her husband. "Time to saddle up."

He smiled back. "No arguments from me. Meet you down in the shuttle bay."

~ 0 ~

From the instant that it had become clear they had found the most likely planet where Dr. T'Soni was located, Jane had been expecting a confrontation. She was not disappointed. The doors to the lift down to the shuttle bay were just beginning to close with the nimble doctor jumped aboard.

"Commander."

"Doctor."

"I believe in your haste that you have forgotten procedure."

Jane gave the doctor a steady look. "No, doctor, I have not."

Chakwas was nonplussed. "Then you had no intention of joining the others on this mission? Good. I was beginning to think -"

In a quick move, one that was likely too quick given how recently she had sustained the injury, Jane made a move with her left hand and set a biotic barrier around herself. She figured it would go over better than putting the doctor into a stasis bubble to prove her point. "Does that satisfy you, doctor?"

The doctor, lips pursed tightly together, shook her head as she raised her omni-tool. "Not in the least."

The moment the doors opened, Jane stepped out and turned towards her locker to don her armor and collect the rest of her gear. She didn't care what Chakwas' final decision would be - she was _going_ on this mission. She was a Spectre, dammit, and her presence would be _required_. At least, that would be her argument should the need arise. The others were present and in various stages of readiness. Jane also noted with a wry grin that they were doing their best to _not_ pay attention to what was going on between the Commander and the doctor.

Though she moved slower than usual and with considerably more care, Jane was able to get into her armor without assistance from any of the others. After that, it was simply a matter of holstering her weapons. Which provided yet another point in case: despite her protests to the doctor, even Jane knew better than to expect to be able to use her left arm during the mission to come for anything other than occasional biotic moves, and for this reason she only grabbed her pistol.

"Commander!"

Jane came to a halt three steps towards the Mako before she turned back to face the doctor. She longed to fold her arms across her chest, to give added emphasis to the fact that she was indeed well enough for the mission, but she knew she would not be able to hide the level of pain that would accompany such a move. Eye twitches and winces would certainly not go over well. "Yes, doctor?"

The bay became silent - the only sounds coming from the thrumming of the ship's engine, the soft rumbles of the ventilation system and the breather mask that Tali always wore. All the while, the two women held the others attention.

Surprisingly to Jane, it was the doctor who gave in first but not without a heavy sigh. "Be careful down there, Shepard," she said. "I will not treat you a second time for the same injury."

From one moment to the next, Jane's level of irritation sank to non-existent levels. Lips tilting with a smirk, she quipped, "I will make sure any injuries are new, doctor. No worries on that account," then turned and hurried across to climb into the vehicle, ignoring the over exaggerated sigh of exasperation emitted by the doctor as she turned to leave.

Once in her seat, Jane turned to face the others. They had a full crew this time, and it was a bit crowded as they settled into the vehicle. "Everyone ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alenko answered for all of them from his position beside her and next to the navigation systems. Jane's brow lifted at this, especially considering that her husband was with the group, but Alenko simply gave the other Commander a quick look then offered the Spectre a smirk.

"You called shotgun, didn't you?"

Alenko's smile was very subtle, but Jane noticed it. "Something like that," he agreed.

Biting back a grin, Jane called back, "Buckle up, everyone. This is likely to be a bumpy ride."

~ 0 ~

"Bumpy ride, she says," Williams muttered a short while later. "Who knew she meant literally?"

Seated behind the Chief, John felt safe in chuckling. Jane was too busy keeping her eyes on the path before them to worry about his reaction to such comments. Or so he hoped. "Would you rather I drive?" he countered.

"Hell no, Skipper!" Had she not been so distracted by the confrontation between Dr. Chakwas and the Spectre, John suspected that Williams would have beat Alenko to calling shotgun. Ah well, live and learn.

Biting back a grin now, John adopted a more serious reaction, though, he asked, "Do I detect a high level of sarcasm in your tone there, soldier?"

He quickly realized that Williams was onto him; the broad smirk she gave him told him that. "Nope. Just a high level of self-preservation. Sir."

"Quite the comedy routine you have going back there," Jane's voice called out a moment later.

"Could've been you," John reminded her.

Jane's snort of amusement was more than enough of a response for him.

Sure, the journey from the drop zone was proving to be a bit … well, uneven was a good word, right? They'd had several encounters with the geth so far, and from what he recalled of the map he and Jane had looked at earlier, they were almost to the mine shaft.

"Are we there yet?" Tali asked, her voice beginning to take on the edge of a passenger thoroughly miserable with the current conditions. John wasn't certain if it was due to the bumpy nature of the drive or the excessive heat seeping up into the Mako, but either way, he couldn't blame the young quarian.

"Almost," Alenko called back. "Just over the next rise."

"Wrex, keep an eye out for more of those -" Jane called out as the Mako crested the top of the hill, only to come under fire from yet another couple of geth.

The vibration of both the Mako's cannon and Wrex's laughter alerted everyone else that the krogan was well aware of their current situation. With a final lurch of the Mako as Jane moved forward, the last of the synthetics went down with a resounding crunch.

Or maybe that was just John's memory filling in the sound for him. Whatever the case, his hand came to rest on the back of Williams' seat as he leaned forward. From his position in the back, he could not see through the virtual windows. "How far?"

"Just up ahead," Jane called back.

"Good. Anything in between us and the mine?"

"Not that I can see -"

"Wait." Garrus' voice had an urgency to it. "Do you hear that?"

Alenko leaned forward in his seat, head canting to the side as he searched the sky. "There," he replied, pointing. "Geth dropship incoming."

Jane pulled the Mako to a rolling stop close to the entrance of the mine but not quite close enough. "Wrex …?"

The vehicle shook as the cannon released a shot. Between rumbling laughs, the krogan bellowed out challenges as well. John noticed that despite the tenseness of the situation, there were some partial smiles among the rest of the group at this. Unexpected reassurance, perhaps. Of course, even he was finding the krogan battlemaster's arrogance - or maybe it was eternal optimism? - in the heat of battle to be somewhat comforting. Just so long as the krogan remained on _their_ side of things.

The Mako rocked again as it was hit by the incoming pulse attack and both Jane and Alenko moved quickly to assess the damage. "Shields down twenty percent," Alenko murmured in an eerily calm tone.

"Wrex?" Jane called out, making a few adjustments on her interface and steering the Mako off to their left to find some sort of momentary protection behind some shipping crates.

"You're blocking my line of sight, Shepard!" the krogan bellowed.

The muted thud of something hitting the roof of the Mako had John looking over at Williams. "What was that?"

"Some sort of … hopping … thing," Alenko called back. "It's too fast - I can't even begin to describe it."

Williams began reaching for her harness. "Let us out there, dammit!" she hissed. "We can't kill them if we're -"

The vehicle shook again as Wrex released another cannon burst. Seconds after that, the Mako took another direct hit and Jane was maneuvering it yet again behind the crates.

"Shields down forty percent," Alenko announced.

"Garrus," John asked, "how fast can you get up atop that catwalk out there?"

The turian shook his head. "Not fast enough," he replied.

The Mako shook again, and this time Wrex released a victory bellow along with the shot. Moments later, the burst of machine gun fire could be heard accompanying his continued laughter.

"Out," Jane ordered as she turned. "He's taken down the armature and some of the others, but there's still those hopping things. Be ready."

One by one, they began falling out. John chose to lead the way, eyes scanning the area before he'd even set his foot on the ground. A blur of movement to his left had him spinning and doing nearly a 180 degree spin. He saw Williams exiting behind him and called out, "Behind you!" just as he lifted his omni-tool and managed to shoot off an overload charge.

Tali, having followed right behind Williams, saw this move and prepared her own such attack on the second hopping geth that suddenly appeared to their right atop the shipping crate. While it only immobilized the creature for a moment, a shot from right behind her rang out as Garrus took aim from the top of the doorway.

"That's it," Williams called out, walking around to the other side of the Mako.

John followed her, eyes still scanning the area. "Clear," he called out. When he and Williams both rejoined the others, Wrex, Alenko and Jane had exited. Jane was looking over at him as he rounded the back end. "What?"

"That was a bit too easy, don't you think?" she asked while rolling her left shoulder.

"That was easy?" Garrus asked, glancing around at the others. Tali shrugged, Wrex chuckled, but the humans were all looking at one another.

Jane's words almost caught John off guard. Almost. But as he thought about it for a moment, he began nodding, soon followed by Alenko and Williams with their agreement. "Yeah … I mean, after what we faced on Eden Prime and such, added to the fact that Saren knows we're coming here … yeah. Not exactly the welcoming committee I was expecting."

Reaching for her weapon, Williams flashed a quick but determined grin at John. "Well then. Let's get this party started, shall we?"

The rest of the group began reaching for weapons as Jane nodded towards the mine shaft. "Might as well. We'll have to face the music sometime," she offered.

"Party? Music?" Tali queried. She turned towards Garrus, but he looked just as bewildered as she sounded.

Alenko and Williams shared a look while chuckling. "Old Earth expressions," Williams told her.

Alenko nodded, taking over. "Basically what it means is we know there are more geth waiting for us and we might as well face them now instead of waiting for them to launch an attack."

John glanced over to see Jane rolling her eyes and bit back a smirk. "Literary analysis of your commands now?" he mused softly so only she could hear. "Interesting."

She shot him a dark look before opening the door to the mine. It was more than enough for him to know that she would likely make him pay for it later.

~ 0 ~

Fighting their way through to find the archaeologist did not disappoint. Almost from the moment they entered the mine shaft they encountered resistance. By the time they reached the lower level where the doctor was located and found her protected by some sort of energy field, they felt they were prepared for just about anything. Which was good, because they discovered that Saren's lackeys still had some surprises left for them, including plenty more geth and a krogan battlemaster of his own.

The battle that ensued would have been chaotic even without the ruins beginning to fall apart around them. Jane, John, Alenko, Tali and Garrus focused their attacks upon the geth while Wrex and Williams aimed for the opposing krogan. Dr. T'Soni herself offered assistance by way of a stasis field when, unbeknownst to Jane, the krogan nearly caught the Spectre from behind, but the asari's move gave Wrex time to take him out completely with a well aimed head shot.

However, there was no time for celebrating or rejoicing as the ruins continued to crumble around them. "Move it!" Jane shouted, gesturing everyone towards the exit. One after another, they began the mad scramble up the stairs and through the entrance to the mine, finally breaking free just moments before the ground gave way beneath them. Jane made it three steps outside of the door before a loud booming noise followed by a large plume of air and debris followed, engulfing her for a moment and causing her to break into a violent fit of coughing. As Joker maneuvered the _Normandy_ in to retrieve them and the Mako, Alenko moved to her side, pulling out his omni-tool and starting some scans.

Jane gave him a hard glare. "Chakwas' doing?" she rasped.

Alenko chuckled and shook his head. "Field medic training, remember?" he offered by way of explanation.

"I'm … fine," she insisted, shaking off his attentions and straightening. Taking a deep breath once they were in the shuttle bay, she released it in a slow, controlled manner to prove to him that she was indeed doing better. Only the smallest cough caught her at the end.

"You should still have the doctor run some more tests," Alenko told her as he walked over to the lockers and began removing arms and armor with the others.

Jane followed suit. "Later," she replied.

The comms crackled to life then, and Joker's voice broke free, echoing throughout the shuttle bay. "Too close, Commander. Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulfur. The _Normandy_ isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."

Jane's eyes drifted over to John's, brow lifting. John chuckled. "I'll take that under advisement, Joker," she promised. "For now, though, why don't you just get us out of here?"

"Already done, Commander. Where do you want to go?"

Eyes still on her husband's, Jane's lips pulled into a grin, a twinkle sparkling amongst the green. "Second star on the right and straight on 'til morning," she replied.

John chuckled. "Man, how long has it been since then?" he asked her. While Jane shrugged, he called out to Joker for clarification, "The Citadel, Joker."

"Roger that."

"We all nearly died, and you laugh about it as if it were nothing?"

Setting her weapon aside for Williams to take care of later, Jane turned to face the asari archaeologist. "It's a coping mechanism," she explained. "Helps deal with the stress and strain."

Williams snorted loudly. "That's one way to put it," she muttered.

Jane bit back a laugh. "Some better than others, apparently," she added with a glance over at the Chief whose only response was to roll her eyes and head over to the elevators with the others who were heading to the upper decks.

"I … I see."

Jane eyed the asari closely. Her hands twisted around each other in a nervous gesture, and Jane reached out to touch her arm. She was not surprised when Dr. T'Soni jumped in reaction. "Sorry. Most of us are soldiers. We've been through a lot and humor, as dry and dark as it can be at times, is a way of dealing with the otherwise harsh realities of life, I guess."

The archaeologist managed a half hearted smile, but she nodded which Jane took as a good sign. "I will admit, I don't have much experience with your species, Commander. I'm not used to many of your cultural ways."

Jane's smile softened as she shook out her hair and placed the last of her armor in her locker. "That's alright. By the time we reach the Citadel, I'm sure you'll have figured out plenty." Moving down the line of lockers, Jane found an empty one and opened it. "I know you don't have much at the moment, but this one will be yours, for future reference. Assuming, that is, you are willing to work with us?"

There was a moment's hesitation, but the asari soon nodded. "I don't know what Benezia is up to, Commander. I haven't spoken to her in over fifty years. However, if what you've told me so far is accurate, then I don't see what else I can do."

Sighing, Jane took a seat on a nearby crate, gesturing for the asari to join her. Taking several minutes, she outlined everything they knew about Saren, the geth, and the information they had on Matriarch Benezia's association with him, beginning with the events on Eden Prime and ending up at the current moment.

"A prothean beacon?" she whispered, awestruck.

Jane nodded. Habit had her lifting a hand to her temple and rubbing there. It wasn't a constant ache anymore, but there were times when the jumble of memories from the beacon still intruded into her thoughts. Most of the time it happened while she was sleeping.

"And have you made any sense of what you saw?"

Jane shook her head. "Not much, I'm afraid. I know it was a warning of some kind. Some sort of giant, synthetic race. But that's about it." She offered a quick smile. "We'll figure it out, I have no doubt about that."

The archaeologist's eyes were wide, almost like a small child enraptured by a story being told. "I … I hope I can help with that."

Jane's lips tilted up. Rising, she gestured towards the lift. "I've no doubt you will," she assured her. "In the meantime, we have come across some other prothean information in our travels. I'm hoping you might be able to assist with that as well?"

"Of course."

When the lift slowed to a halt, opening its doors for them, Jane noticed the asari wobble just a bit. "Whoa there! Are you alright? Maybe you should have Dr. Chakwas check you out … then get something to eat or rest." Jane moved to her side and remained close should she feel faint.

The asari nodded. "I … perhaps you are right," she replied, allowing Jane to lead her into the med bay.

"I'll leave you here with Dr. Chakwas. She's one of the best, and I've no doubt she'll be having you feeling better soon."

"Why, thank you for that vote of confidence, Commander," Chakwas replied. "And do not think I won't be tracking you down later to check up on that shoulder of yours."

Jane took that as her cue to leave. "I'm fine, doctor. Just a little stiffness. Nothing a hot shower won't cure." Waving at them both, she ducked back out the doors before she could be called back and then scurried over to the entrance to her cabin.

Once inside, she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, sighing heavily. "Oi!"

A deep rumbling chuckle from across the room caused her to jump. "Should I presume you ran into the doctor?" John asked.

Jane turned towards him, crossing until she was standing right in front of him. "Something like that," she replied before leaning up to kiss him. "She wants to check up on my shoulder."

"No kidding?" he teased. "I wonder why she would want to do that?"

Jane retaliated by placing her hands on his chest and pushing him down onto the bed. "Wouldn't be because you reminded her, would it?"

"Who, me?" He reached up to grasp her hand and tugged until she fell on top of his chest. "I hardly need to remind her at this point, don't you think?"

Relaxing against him for a moment, Jane rested her head against his shoulder. "Hmm. Where you're involved, I never know for sure."

"Besmirching my character again, I see." He lifted a hand to run through her hair, still slightly damp after their adventures on the volcanic planet. "Well, I'll just have to figure out some way to change your mind then."

Lifting herself to rest against her forearm placed across his chest, she lifted a brow in question. "That might take some doing," she mused lightly. "What did you have in mind?"

She watched his blue eyes narrow in and focus on hers, his head tilting to the side as he considered. "Dinner on the Citadel?" he offered. "Some place quiet. Just us."

Jane grinned. "Our anniversary is months away," she teased.

"But it's been years since we've been assigned the same duty station," he reminded her. "I intend to take full advantage of it!"

Leaning over, she placed a light kiss on his lips. "Alright, I can get behind that. Dinner. Just us. No one else. And _NO_ interruptions."

In the next moment, Jane heard herself yelping as he rolled them over until he had her pinned on the bed beneath him. This time when they kissed, there was a bit more heat behind it. "No interruptions," he agreed before dimming the lights, "I promise."


	8. Chapter 8

The arrival of the _Normandy_ at the Citadel docking bays went relatively unnoticed save for the few Alliance maintenance personnel scheduled to assist with its care during the ship's stay. Jane's decision to give the crew a forty-eight hour window for shore leave seemed more than appropriate after the success of their first major mission, and it did not take long before they began to take advantage of it on individual or group basis. Most had filtered their way off the ship for the sights and sounds of the Citadel, save for those who had duty watch, by the time Jane was preparing to disembark. For her, though, pleasure would have to be interspersed with work.

John found her in their cabin shortly after they'd docked. He'd been prepared to suggest they head off for that meal together first thing (knowing how quickly things could and usually did change once word of her being on the Citadel began to circulate, of course), only to find his wife standing in front of the mirror, smoothing down her dress uniform. _Most decidedly, not good_, he thought. "I take it you already have plans?" he asked casually.

He saw her shoulders rise and fall with a sigh before turning to face him … but that didn't change the fact that she looked stunning. Somehow, she always managed to look every bit a proper soldier, even in her dress blues, whereas he always looked gangly and awkward. "Admiral Kahoku," she told him and he saw the sadness building behind green eyes. "He had some time, so I thought I'd go and let him know …."

Crossing the room, John reached for one of her hands, pulling her close when she took it, hugging her tight. He knew she was hurting. No officer liked to lose men under their command … or the idea of reporting to others that their men had been lost. "Do you want me to go with you?" he asked. "I can be ready in ten, spitshine and all."

Her smile was sad as she leaned up and kissed his cheek, but it was visible even though she shook her head while dropping back to her feet. "I'll take care of it," she replied. "We can meet up after, maybe?"

John nodded immediately. Distraction would be needed right about then, he suspected. "Sounds good. Figured I'd head over to the markets anyway. See if I can't track down some of those things on Pressly's wish list."

Jane did chuckle softly at that. "Procurement? Really?" she asked. "I sure hope your bargaining skills have improved since Elysium."

Then again, maybe distraction would be better served right then. "I will have you know -" he began.

But Jane was quick to cut him off. "- that it was your attempt at 'negotiations' that ended up with me having to make that 'suicide run.'"

John did his best to look hurt and offended, though they both knew it was far from the truth. "I was hardly responsible for your - what was it Anderson called it? An 'insane desire to exhibit your hero complex mentality'?"

Jane rolled her eyes as she led the way out of the cabin and up the stairs to the CIC. "'Hero complex mentality,' my ass," she informed him.

"Hey, I offered to be the one to go. And seeing as I was N5 at the time, I outranked you and it was my call," he protested. He remembered that incident all too well and occasionally still suffered nightmares from it at the thought of what Jane had done on her own. Oh, he hadn't known the details until well after the events (right in the middle of the ceremony presenting them both with the Star of Terra for their actions that day, as a matter of fact, when his eyes and everyone else's had gone wide as the details were revealed), but the thought of sending her into a situation like that had been nerve wracking even without that knowledge.

"You'd already been injured," she reminded him.

"I was fine. It was only a scratch …."

Jane chuckled softly. "Only you would call a that 'a scratch,' Hopalong."

John winced. He'd managed to forget that nickname over time. Clearly, she hadn't. "So I wasn't at a hundred percent. I still could have managed -"

Jane stopped walking abruptly in the middle of the CIC, spinning on her heel to face him. "Trust me," she told him quietly, intense green eyes finding blue, "you couldn't have." She sighed and he noticed the set of her shoulders relax just a bit more. "And I'll admit I'm glad I didn't have to worry about that."

John lifted a hand to tilt her chin upwards just a fraction. "You might not have had to worry," he told her before tapping the tip of her nose with his finger, "but I did. I swear, one of these days, you and your actions will be the death of me."

The smile that curved at her lips was contrite, he noticed. That was enough for now. She was strong and proud and a damned good spec ops operative. Hell, they both were. "Come on," he murmured, sliding his arm down to rest at her waist and pull her beside him. "I'll walk you over to the embassies."

~ 0 ~

"Admiral, thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

The Presidium was busy as always, but Jane arranged the meeting with Admiral Ryan Kahoku in one of the public gardens located near the embassies. It was public, but not often occupied Jane had been informed. It was perfect for their needs.

"Should I presume that this has something to do with the fate of my men, Commander?" the Admiral asked.

After submitting her reports to both Hackett and Anderson regarding events on Edolus, Anderson warned her that Kahoku had a reputation for being a down to Earth, by the book sort of officer. She expected that he would get down to business quickly, just maybe not quite this fast. "Yes, sir."

Taking a deep breath, she paused for a long moment before continuing. "I'm not quite sure how to tell you this, Admiral, but your men were killed by a thresher maw."

"A thresher maw?" he stammered, clearly shocked by her announcement. "My … my men wouldn't just stumble into a nest!"

Jane nodded. "Yes, sir. And they didn't. Your men were lured there by an Alliance beacon, strategically placed," she explained. "It was the same beacon that drew me and my team to the location."

Silence lingered between them for a few minutes as the man standing before her clearly struggled to accept the news. "Thank you, Commander," he finally told her, sighing in resignation, his shoulders slumping slightly in defeat. "I … I need to do something. Their families need to know why they died."

Jane bit her lip, instinct causing the hair at the back of her neck to rise. There was something about the way he spoke that was triggering alarms inside her head. "Sir … is there some way I might help? Anything you need from me or my crew?"

That seemed to cause him to pause. He turned and met her gaze, staring at her for a long moment. "Not right now, Shepard," he finally replied, "but I'll let you know once I find something out. Now, if you will excuse me …."

Jane opened her mouth to respond, but the Admiral was already walking away. Swallowing back the words, she instead turned towards the embassies and went to seek out Captain Anderson.

"Ah, Commander," her mentor greeted her warmly, "come on in."

Jane darted a quick glance around and was not surprised when Anderson's deep rumbling chuckle filled the room. "Don't worry," he assured her. "Udina's off at some meetings."

Jane flashed him a quick grin. "Am I that transparent?"

Anderson grinned at her as they both walked over to the railing and looked out over the Presidium. "Not at all," he told her. "So, what can I do for you?"

Jane leaned her forearms against the railing and stared down at her hands for a long moment. "Sir … I'm worried about Rear Admiral Kahoku." She took a few minutes to explain about her conversation with the man, to fill Anderson in on how the mission had gone first-hand.

Anderson's reply began with an acknowledging rumble in his throat. "The Admiral is a good man," he agreed after a moment. "He cares about his men. I suspected he would take this pretty hard."

Jane glanced over at her superior. "Sir? This was more than just taking things 'pretty hard,' I think," she pointed out. "He wasn't talking about going to write letters of condolence or anything like that, he said he 'needed to do something' and that he needed to 'find out what happened' to his men. That suggests he plans to investigate."

Anderson's gaze met hers. "Is that a bad thing?" he challenged.

"Not at all. But the way he said it ..." Jane bit her lip and then shook her head. "I can't put it into words, Captain, but it sounds more like he's planning to _do_ something about what happened." She hesitated to suggest that the Admiral might, well for lack of a better term, 'go rogue' and go off hunting after whoever was behind the set up, but her gut was screaming that the man had deeper intentions than just notifying next of kin.

"Let it be for now, Commander," Anderson advised. "I'll make a point of it to check in with him after a while."

"Yes, sir."

"Now then, is there anything else I can do for you?" he asked, turning to face her. "As I understood things, you and your crew were on leave and -"

The sound of the door to the office sliding open pulled both their attentions around. "Anderson, there you are. I need to discuss …. Shepard. What are you doing here?"

Jane bit back a quick retort, nodding over at Anderson as she began to depart. "I was just leaving, Ambassador. Excuse me." She heard the quiet discussion between Anderson and Udina behind her, but as the Captain did not call her back, Jane decided that she was quite safe in exiting the embassies just as quickly as her legs would carry her. She had enough to worry about - she didn't need Udina haranguing her about the status of their mission or anything.

~ 0 ~

"Well," John murmured to his companions as they stepped back out into the open space of the Presidium, "that was … different."

The turian beside him chuckled. "I suppose the Consort is an acquired taste," he agreed.

Williams snickered. "Somehow, I doubt the Commander would appreciate the Skipper making such an 'acquisition.'"

John tossed a tolerant glare over at the Chief before glancing at Garrus. "Have you had the opportunity to visit her before?"

Garrus looked stunned at the thought. "Ahhh … no," he admitted, ignoring the chuckles of both Shepard and Williams. "Not on a … well, personal level anyway. Weren't you paying attention when we first arrived? The wait list for seeing her is months long."

"Uh huh," Williams chuckled. Nudging Garrus with her elbow, she added, "Just admit it, Vakarian. Her services are just a tiny bit out of the price range of a lowly C-Sec investigator."

"Well, there is truth in that, too, I suppose."

John shook his head and began leading them across the Presidium. As they moved, he lifted his omni-tool and shot off a quick message to Jane. Behind him, Williams and Garrus continued their conversation. "So … if you weren't visiting for personal reasons," Williams asked, "do I even want to know why you were there?"

"It was a couple of years back," the turian explained. "One of her clients was the victim in a case. Standard procedure had us investigating every lead. You know …. questioning everyone who had seen them last, that sort of thing."

Williams whistled through her teeth. "Wow. I take it she wasn't involved?" she asked, her head nodding back in the direction of the Consort's chambers. "Since she still seems to be in, erm, business."

Garrus chuckled. "No, she wasn't. Ended up being an asari dancer out of _Chora's Den_. An undercover merc. Apparently, her coloring was quite similar to the Consort and outside of her job at the _Den_, she chose to dress similarly in order to use the confusion to her advantage."

"Wow," Williams murmured. "Guess humans aren't the only ones who act so … human at times, huh?"

John chuckled as he sent another message. "There's only so much room for original ideas out there, Chief, before certain trends and behaviors begin repeating. Even in a galaxy as big as ours," he reminded her.

They came to a halt near the elevators leading to the Wards. "Alright," John announced, "this is where I remind you both that you're on shore leave, so go have some fun. Right?"

Williams grinned. "Translation: Skipper's got a hot date with Spectre Shepard. C'mon, Garrus. Let's you and me go find trouble somewhere else."

"Umm …."

John shook his head at Williams. "Be nice, Chief," he warned, though there was no heat behind his words.

"Hey, I saw some mods down in the market," she declared. "That's trouble … sort of …."

"Mods, you say?"

John bit back a grin. "I'll see you two later."

But before the elevator doors could close, Williams stuck her hand out to hold it open. "Just a minute, Skipper. Where are you meeting her?"

Blinking, John glanced down at his omni-tool. "Some place on the Presidium," he replied.

He saw Williams exchange a quick, amused look with Garrus before she reached out, took John by his shoulders and spun him around leaving him with his back towards them. "Uh, Skipper? You wanna go back _that_ way."

As she released him and stepped backwards, he could hear both of them laughing and he managed to throw an evil look in their direction which only seemed to set Williams off laughing harder. Grumbling to himself, John headed back up to the Presidium. What Williams _didn't_ know was that Jane had given him specific directions to their meeting place. The chances of him getting lost were minimal. Hopefully.

~ 0 ~

Jane paced around the area just outside of the restaurant for a few minutes before stopping. She glanced at her omni-tool but found it silent. No messages. No alerts. No … nothing. Frowning, she lifted her other hand, half-prepared to send John a short note just to find out what was taking him so long, but she dropped both hands before she could. It wasn't like this wasn't usual practice, after all. Williams hadn't been far off the mark with her teasing comments about John getting them lost that first visit. Which was why Jane had asked his current location at the time of his message and given him explicit directions to get from there to here ….

"Hey, beautiful."

The low murmur near her ear had Jane gasping and jumping just a bit in surprise as she turned. "_There_ you are," she laughed. "I was about to call C-Sec to initiate an investigation into your disappearance!"

"Har har har," John returned dryly. Glancing at the entrance to the restaurant, he eyed the place carefully. "So … this is where you want to go?"

Jane shrugged. "It's as good as any, right?" she asked in return. "I've heard it's got great food. Nice atmosphere …."

"Looks pretty good from the outside." John peeked inside and glanced around the area. "Plenty of politicians," he murmured. Grimacing suddenly, he ducked back out rather quickly. Jane's brow lifted at that. "Uh … on the other hand, you might want to rethink your decision," he suggested.

Frowning, she demanded, "Why? You said I got to choose where we ate this time."

"No, no," he lifted his hands in an attempt to ward off her anger, "you're right. I did say that and I mean it. It's just … well …." He gestured for her to look where he had. "See for yourself."

Sighing, Jane stepped over and took a peek around the corner … and winced. "Shit!" she hissed softly, pulling back quickly. Grabbing his hand, she began walking away from the place. "Dammit, why'd he have to be here?"

John couldn't resist a chuckle. "You're whining, you know that, right?"

Jane turned sharply, tugging hard on his hand to keep him up with her pace. "You had to point him out, didn't you?"

"And if he'd seen you while we were in there?" John countered. "As I recall, you declared this a 'no interruptions' dinner."

Jane sighed wearily, but otherwise said nothing in reply.

"So. Where to then?"

Jane slowed her pace, coming to a halt a short distance from the hall leading to the elevators that would take them to the Wards. There was also a skycab station nearby. Two, actually, within easy walking distance. The only question remaining was where to go to eat now.

"Assuming seeing the Ambassador there hasn't completely turned your appetite," John commented, "I have a suggestion."

Jane glanced up at him. "Oh, this ought to be good."

"What?" he asked. "The last time I chose, I thought I did particularly well."

Jane snorted softly. "The last time you chose, we were on Arcturus and our options were limited to the places we knew well enough," she pointed out. "Where's the adventure in that?"

"Well, I thought the pizza was particularly good," he insisted. "Anyway, Anderson told me about a sushi place down in the Wards. Says it's pretty good, considering it's on the Citadel and all …."

Jane felt a smile pulling at her lips. "Sushi you say?" she mused.

John nodded. "I guess it's pretty popular, too, but Anderson said we could drop his name. Apparently, he's been a frequent client of late."

Jane tried to think back to the last time she'd had good sushi … and came up empty. When John began chuckling, she glanced up and met his amused look as he took her arm this time and led her over to the skycab station. "I figured as much," he teased.

After entering the vehicle and John setting their destination, Jane leaned over and reached for his left arm. "Hey, what are you doing?" he protested.

With a quick grin, she repeated the movements on her own arm. "No interruptions, remember?" she countered. After all, this was the first time they'd had time alone for a proper meal in many months. She wasn't about to take any chances.


	9. Chapter 9

Despite it being shore leave, there were the inevitable and requisite errands that needed completion before the _Normandy_ departed, and as many of these missions fell to those at the upper levels of command, John was not above fulfilling his own responsibilities. On the second day of leave, enlisting the assistance of both Williams and Liara, John headed off to do just that.

There were downsides to being married to the "Spectre Shepard," however. Especially when on official business for the _Normandy_ that he was certain left no doubt to the merchants with whom he was dealing that he was indeed serving on the same ship as the Spectre, but she was otherwise occupied and not available in person at that moment. After their first encounter of this (the merchant never gave his name, but John figured there couldn't be too many salarians in such positions selling arms and armor on the Citadel, right?) when the second and third times occurred, John could not fail to hear Williams' snickering softly in response. "Can it, Chief," he muttered as they left the volus' stall and headed towards another, this one run by a turian.

"Canning it, Skipper," Williams replied, but there was more than just a hint of amusement still in her tone. John spared Liara a quick glance, but the asari seemed more confused than anything. He figured he would have to sit down and talk with her about Williams' oddball sense of humor later.

It was during this time, when John once again made a wrong turn that ended up with the three of them heading to the Presidium via the underground passages rather than back to the elevators in the Wards that would inevitably lead to the docks, that John found himself faced with an unusual situation. As he led the other two down the hall, John spotted a bedraggled looking human off to the side of the pathway. From afar, the man looked familiar, but John couldn't decide why. That in itself was particularly odd for him since John had a good eye and memory for faces. A quick and questioning look over at Williams followed immediately by her shrugged response and shake of the head indicated it was not someone they had come upon since she had joined the _Normandy_ team after Eden Prime, which had John considering further. It was only after he acknowledged the stranger with a nod of greeting and took a few minutes to stop and speak with him that he began to realize why his memory had triggered. A meeting which ended with the former marine suggesting that John speak with his mother, of all people.

As they stepped away, John indicated that Williams should lead the way back to the docks. The entire trip, he remained silent; thinking as memory after memory began to return. The last time he'd seen Zabaleta had been … back when he was a teenager. Jane had been around, too, if he remembered correctly. That had been aboard the _Einstein_. He had hazy recollections of seeing the man in passing aboard that ship as he and Jane had traveled to and from classes, the mess hall, and other areas of the ship open to two teenagers.

"Skipper, you okay?"

Williams' voice brought him back to the present as John realized that decon procedures at the ship's hatch had just completed. Liara had left them already, and Williams stood just inside the door. Blinking, John nodded. "Yeah." He walked passed her, his mood still contemplative, and made straight for the comm room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Williams starting to head below deck. It took less than half a second for him to make a decision. "Williams?"

She made a quick turn and approached at which point John nodded her into the comm room. Once the door was secured behind them, she asked, "Did you need me for something?"

John nodded. Walking down the ramp to the main portion of the room, he began to pace. More bits and pieces were beginning to come back to him now, details and particular incidents … as well as a greater concern. "I need a favor, Chief," he told her after a moment.

"A big one or a little one?"

John quirked a brow in question. "What?"

"A big one, you'll owe me back," Williams explained. "And trust me, Skipper, I'm good at saving those up. A small one, I'd do for almost anyone, no questions asked. _Mi casa es su casa,_ as it were."

John couldn't hold back a chuckle. "How about a personal favor?" he asked. "I'll owe you, but probably not as big as one of your 'big' favors."

Williams considered this. "Alright, let 'er rip, but I'll be the one to decide where it falls."

"Deal." John began to pace again as he tried to find a starting point for what he was about to reveal. "Here's the thing … That incident back there? With Zabaleta? If I'm remembering things right, that has to do with an incident that occurred when my parents and Jane's mom served together aboard the _Einstein_." He stopped, turned and met her questioning gaze. "An incident that was responsible for Jane's mother's death."

Williams openly winced. "Yikes. Okay, so what do you want me to do?"

John took a deep breath. "I'm supposed to be meeting up with Jane in an hour or so over on the Presidium. I was wondering if you might be willing to go find her and keep her … distracted until I can finish up with this. The last thing I want is for her to have to walk in on any of this unprepared."

Williams chewed on her lip for a moment. "Do you intend to tell her?" she asked after a moment.

John nodded. "Yeah, but not until it's done. Mindoir's a twitchy incident for her. She lost her mom there when marines were sent in to help."

"Yeah … No, I get that part," Williams assured him. "I just don't want her to catch wind of this later and think I was somehow involved in a scheme or -"

John raised a hand to silence her. "I promise, Chief, I will tell her."

Another moment's hesitation, but then Williams straightened and saluted. "Done deal, sir," she announced.

John thought he detected a sparkle of mischief in her brown eyes. Cocking his head to the side just a bit, he hedged, "And the cost?"

Williams smiled. "Oh, nothing major," she assured him. "Just this pretty little mod I spied in the Wards earlier today while you were attempting to haggle with that salarian …" Without waiting for his reply, she turned on her heel and left the room.

"You're a damned space pirate, Williams!" he called after her, laughing as she waved at him on the way out the door.

Turning around, John moved to place the call to his mother. "Lowe? I need you to put through a real-time connection to the dreadnought _Kilimanjaro_. I'm wanting to speak with XO Hannah Shepard."

"Yes, Commander." A moment later, she told him, "I'm only able to establish voice-to-voice communications, Commander."

"That'll be fine. Thanks."

As he waited for the connection to become established, John began drumming his fingers along the railing. It had been a while since he last spoke with his mother. Even longer since they'd seen each other in person. Maybe once he and Jane were done chasing Saren across the galaxy, they could ….

"John, is that you? I don't have time for a personal call right now. I'm on duty."

John sighed at the familiar sound of her voice. "I know what that's like," he told her. "But this is business, don't worry. Do you remember a Lieutenant Zabaleta from our time aboard the _Einstein_?"

"Ernesto?" John heard the surprise in her tone. "Have you heard from him?"

"I ran into him on the Citadel just a little while ago," John explained.

"He was one of the marines who guarded the CIC," Hannah explained. "We shared a watch together. I lost track of him though, after … well, there was an incident …."

"Mindoir?" John guessed.

"Yes." John heard so much in that one word. Regret. Concern. And above all else, the weight of memories. "John - before I continue … Jane's not there, is she? I heard you were both serving together again, and -"

"No, Mom," he replied. "She's not aboard ship at the moment."

Hannah's sigh of relief was audible. "We were the only ship in the area that could respond to the mayday call out of Mindoir," she continued after a moment. "Ernesto was one of the first marines to hit the ground, along with Sarah and your father. Between what they found down there and what happened to Sarah, I don't think Ernesto ever was quite the same afterwards."

John frowned and considered. "What happened down there, exactly?"

"About every abomination that a sentient being can do to another," Hannah ground out. "To a slaver, a person is just another animal. And humans aren't particularly liked out here, remember. We heard about corralling. Culling. They'd shoot those they couldn't use. Implant control devices in the skulls of those that they could. Without anesthetic."

John's stomach churned at that thought. A flurry of memories nearly overwhelmed him in that moment. Memories of hearing the news that Sarah McIntyre had been killed and running to find Jane; of finding her alone and crying in her quarters; of wondering how the hell he could help her when he barely knew what had happened himself; of adults refusing to tell him or her anything more than that Sarah McIntyre had been killed in action. Struggling to find direction, he managed, "Was that … was that when he left the service?"

"He tried to keep working, but it … Well, it became very clear that it was taking a toll on him. He began showing up drunk on duty more and more. We couldn't always cover for him. The Alliance finally discharged him. Everyone knew he drank because of what he'd witnessed down there, of course. Even if he never talked about it. _Especially_ because he never talked about it." She hesitated a moment before adding, "John, tell him to go to the Veteran's Affairs Office. They can help him."

"Will do, Mom," he promised. He'd already begun to suspect she would ask him to pass something like that along.

"I have to go," Hannah told him. "But do me a favor? Take care of yourself. Tell Jane to do the same. You're both making us so proud. _Kilimanjaro_ out."

As soon as the call was disconnected, John turned on his heel and exited the room. As he passed through the CIC, he paused. "Pressly, are Vakarian and Alenko still aboard?"

Pressly shook his head. "Vakarian is, sir, but Alenko is assisting your wife at the moment as is Tali'zorah. Dr. T'Soni and the krogan are still here, however."

As John descended to the shuttle bay, he wondered if taking both Garrus and Wrex he might come across as too intimidating to the traumatized former marine ….

~ 0 ~

"Which way?"

Jane smiled at the quarian's quick interest and focus on the job at hand. "Through the doors on the far side of the market," Jane told her as they left the stall where she had just sold off some of the excess gear they had collected of late. Though it hadn't brought much in the way of cash, it at least gave them something in return for their efforts.

"We could just go back upstairs," Alenko reminded her. "There was another skycab station up there."

"We could," Jane agreed as they waited on the doors to open. "And if we find there aren't any available here, then maybe I will consider it …."

Jane's voice trailed off as she noticed the shadows shifting slightly off to their left upon passing through. She couldn't tell for certain how many were there, but the fact that there was movement indicated there was at least one person waiting. The movement itself was enough to set the hairs on the back of her neck on edge. Extending a hand to keep both Alenko and Tali behind her, she called out, "Show yourself," in what she hoped was a neutral tone.

The shadows shifted again and this time, a face appeared in the dimly lit corner. "Heh. They told me it was you, but I didn't believe it," a gravely voice called out. "McIntyre … all grown up and now a soldier."

Jane felt the blood in her veins turn to ice. She knew that voice. "The name is Shepard," she told him. "Have we met before?" There was always the chance she was incorrect, after all.

The stranger moved towards her another step, then two. Now that she could see him, Jane began to identify the shape of the face, the slouch of the shoulders. A quick glance down at his hand and she found the star shaped scar on the back of his hand she knew would be there. Oh yeah, she remembered him.

"Name's Finch," he told her. "You probably don't remember me, but we ran together in the Tenth Street Reds." Jane made no indication one way or another to his comment. "Maybe you don't remember it yourself, running in a gang. None of the vids mention it when they're talking about you."

Jane kept her eyes on him, but moved her hands to her side and slowly around her back where she hoped her companions would see the hand signal she gave them to 'relax but be prepared.' "The vids never tell the whole story," she responded. "So, I presume this isn't a social visit?"

Jane saw a twitch at the man's lips, an almost smirk curving upwards for half a second. "One of the Reds, Curt Weisman, got picked up by turians. We'd like you to talk to the turian guard in the bar and get Curt out."

Jane frowned. "What were the Reds doing in turian space?" she asked casually. "Seems a bit out of their normal territory."

Finch chuckled. "Since your days, the Reds have expanded. We do some salvage, a little shipping here and there, that kind of thing."

Jane tried to read his eyes, but in the dim lighting of the back alley it was all but impossible. "You're not asking me to break Weisman out of jail, are you?"

"Of course not," he reassured her. "But word has it you've got some pull with the aliens. All we're asking you to do is pull a little for us."

Jane heard Alenko shift restlessly behind her and gave him another signal. "What was this guy arrested for?" she asked next.

"Some stupid minor offense," Finch replied. "Maybe he had a little red sand. You know how the turians are. They declared him a problem, and they're now shipping him back for trial."

Jane paused again, considering what Finch had asked of her. "Where is this guard?"

Finch nodded in the direction of _Chora's Den_. "Over in there."

Straightening, she announced, "I'll go talk to him and see what I can do."

Finch seemed to take that as a positive sign as he stepped forward and offered his hand. Jane took it. "Thanks, McIntyre -"

"Shepard," she corrected him.

"Heh. Shepard. I knew you'd remember your old friends. Take care of this and you'll never see me again." He turned and walked away before Jane could even turn around. She turned slowly, but did not otherwise move.

"Commander -"

Jane lifted her hand to silence Alenko. Inside her head, she counted out another minute before finally turning in the direction of _Chora's Den_.

"We … we're not really going to do this, are we?" Tali asked as they walked along.

"Commander, do you really think that releasing someone like this Weisman is a good idea?" Alenko added. "We know nothing about him other than what Finch told us and -"

Jane drew to a halt just before the doors to the club. Turning, she offered Alenko a smile. "Thank you," she told him. She almost laughed as he and Tali exchanged a quick look then faced her again. "For not calling him an 'old friend,' I mean." Sighing, she decided it was best to tell them both a bit of her background. "After my mother died, I was sent to England - on Earth," she added for Tali's benefit, "to live with my grandmother. I was fifteen. Within a year, my grandmother died and I was left alone. No family. No one, really. I had no place to live. I met a man named Weston while wandering the streets of London and he took me to another place he assured me would give me a bed to sleep in and at least two meals a day if I was willing to help out. Not having any other option left, I went."

Jane paused a moment and pulled at the collar of her shirt, lowering it enough so that they both could see part of the tattoo on the back of her right shoulder. "For almost a year I was a member of the Reds," she told them. "Within the first month I realized my mistake, but I had no choice but to stay. Until John came to London and found me. With his help, I broke away and ran off and enlisted in the Alliance. And the rest, as they say, is history."

She smoothed her collar and straightened her shoulders. "I'm not afraid to admit to my mistakes," she told them, "but it is all past. Gone. Done. I have no intention of helping Finch or any of the other Reds. So, if you both could just follow my lead for a little bit longer …."

The _Den_ was crowded like always, but a few minutes after entering, Jane soon spotted the turian guard off to their right with Alenko's assistance. Approaching him, Jane nodded a greeting. "A human named Finch wanted me to use my authority as a Spectre to free Curt Weisman," she told him without preamble.

"The xenophobe?" the guard replied. Jane nodded. "I should have known he'd have friends. Thank you for the information. We'll increase the number of guards on his cell."

"I knew you'd rat us out, McIntyre!"

Jane's hand reached for and pulled her pistol to the ready as she turned to face Finch. She heard both Alenko and Tali do the same with their weapons.

"Now it's payback time! When we're through telling our story, the aliens will all know what the first human Spectre really is!"

"No," Jane told him in a steady tone as she leveled her pistol on him, "you won't."

The bright flash of the shot was barely discernible in the pulsating lighting of the club.

"Impressive."

Jane turned to face the turian guard again. She'd forgotten him in the moment, but it quickly became clear that he approved of her reaction to the situation. "Thanks."

"Perhaps the first human Spectre will not be a disappointment after all. Goodbye, Spectre."

Jane stared after the guard's retreating form for a long moment.

"Did he just …?" Tali began.

"Yeah," Alenko agreed, the merest hint of anger causing his voice to drop lower, "he did."

Shaking her head, Jane lead the pair back towards the skycab station, chuckling the entire time. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or humbled," she replied. She glanced at her omni-tool and winced. "Shoot, I'm going to be late."

Alenko asked as they arrived and she called up a ca, "Hot date, Commander?"

Jane leveled her most officious Commander's gaze upon the Lieutenant. "And if I do, LT?" she asked while folding her arms. Tali followed suit, neatly imitating the Commander's posture.

Chuckling, Alenko ignored the light flush of embarrassment that filled his cheeks just then. "Uh … um …. Absolutely nothing, ma'am," he finally managed, hand rising to rub at the back of his neck. "Absolutely nothing at all."

Jane just grinned as he and Tali entered the vehicle. Sometimes it was nice to be the Commander.

~ 0 ~

"Say again, Skipper?" Ashley stepped off the elevator as it arrived on the Presidium and turned to her right to follow the path leading around from the embassies and across the lake that ran down the middle.

"Don't push it, Chief."

Ashley bit back a giggle at the irritation she heard on the surface of his tone. "Commander, you really need to consider installing a mapping program of some kind on your omni-tool."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "Just come meet me at the VAO, will you? I'm not even sure how I got here, let alone how I get out."

Ashley spied a skycab station ahead of her and started towards it. "Well, that's what you get for letting Garrus lead you in and then running off to have playtime before giving you directions out. You really should have made him lead you out of there first."

The sigh of exasperation was all she needed to hear to set her off into a fit of giggles that she could not control. "Williams!"

"On my way, sir!" she managed, hoping it sounded at least a little bit regulation. "Oh, and on our way back, can we stop by the markets and -"

"Chief!"

When the cab pulled in front of the VAO ten minutes later, Ashley remained inside the vehicle but opened the door so Shepard could get into the backseat. Without a word to him at all, she focused on setting their next destination.

"I never did catch up with the Commander," she announced when she turned to face him a moment later. "I've been playing catch up ever since I left the ship."

"That's okay," John replied. He sighed and ran his hands over his face as he sat back. A part of him wondered if perhaps he'd over reacted to the entire situation.

"That bad, Skipper?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "That bad. Poor bastard was worse off than I thought." When he removed his hands, his eyes found hers. "Zabaleta was apparently there, on the ground, when Jane's mother was killed. Hell, Mom said Sarah was leading Zabaleta's squad. That plus what they found on Mindoir when they arrived … no wonder the man's still suffering …."

"Skipper … I'm sorry." It was rare that Ashley was at a loss for words, but this was one of those times. She'd been young when Mindoir happened - all of twelve years old. Living in the colonies herself at the time, of course she _knew_ it had happened, but the details of it all were hazy at best because she'd been so young.

"Thanks."

The last few minutes of the return trip were in silence. As they exited the vehicle, Ashley nudged Shepard's arm with her shoulder. "There she is … complete with Alenko in tow."

John turned to look and found both Jane and Alenko walking over to join them. Frowning, he glanced around. "Where's Tali? I thought she was with you?"

Jane chuckled. "I would imagine she is skipping back aboard the _Normandy_ right now getting ready to try on her new armor," she explained with a grin. Though Tali had protested, Jane had insisted. Even she was aware that armor suits could only be patched only so many times before it became more of an personal endangerment to go into battle.

"Nice!" Ashley commented, meeting the Spectre's grin with one of her own. "Which type?"

"Liberator."

Ashley's eyes widened. Turning back towards John, she murmured, "Hey, Skipper, permission to make a change to my request and -"

"No."

Folding her arms, she countered, "Now remember, I was taking care of a _personal_ favor."

John sighed, his eyes rolling upwards. "Williams …."

"And, oh yeah, I _did_ come to the rescue again, did I not?"

Jane and Alenko glanced at each other before turning towards John. "Rescue?" Jane murmured in surprise.

Scowling, John tossed a semi-good natured glare over at Williams. "Fine. But keep it reasonable."

"Whooo!" Ashley crowed before grasping surprised and startled Lieutenant's arm and pulling him along with her. "Come on, LT, you can help me decide which one to get!"

"Damned space pirate is what she is," John muttered.

Jane stepped closer to him, slipping her arm through his as he began to lead them away. "So … why don't you tell me what precipitated you having to ask the Chief for a - what was it she called it? A _personal_ - favor."

John glanced down at her and challenged back, "And Tali? I know you better than that. You got that last set of armor of hers just before we pulled out of the Citadel the last time ..."

~ 0 ~

As a Staff Lieutenant in the Systems Alliance Marine Corps, Kaidan Alenko was not one to stand for idle gossip or rumormongering. In fact, he was prone to stopping such things from the first moment he heard them beginning, especially when on duty. But right now, being pulled along through the Citadel wards by the Chief while off duty and on shore leave, he found it difficult to keep from asking, "What exactly happened that you had to rescue the Commander?"

Williams flashed him one of her quick, easy grins. "What else?" she countered with a chuckle. "He got himself lost. _ Again_!"

Kaidan laughed along with her, but he couldn't help but suspect that there was more to the story than that. Knowing John as he did from their previous duty assignment together, saying that the Commander had 'gotten lost' was a bit of a loaded statement, after all. "And?"

Williams was slowing down finally as they reached the markets, and Kaidan was able to take a deep breath. "And … well …."

He watched her glance around them to see who might overhear before turning to face him. The look on her face though, the way her eyes narrowed in concern, triggered a similar reaction in him. This wasn't just ordinary gossip, if her reaction was anything to judge by, this was something more. "What?"

When Williams stepped off towards one of the railings overlooking the Wards beyond, Kaidan followed. There were others around, but not close enough to hear them. "The Skipper ran into an old … friend while we were running errands earlier," she finally explained. "Later, he asked me to go find the Commander, to keep her distracted and away from the ship and this Zabaleta guy." She pulled her lip between her teeth and bit down before looking over at him. "Something to do with when her mom died, I guess."

Kaidan felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. This was hardly sounding good. "So … who is this 'Zabaleta guy,' you mentioned?" he asked.

"A marine who served on the same boat their parents did. Her mom was his squad leader. Saw her die on Mindoir when they were sent in to respond to the colonists' mayday."

Kaidan winced. He recalled the Mindoir incident easily enough. He'd been nineteen at the time, remembered seeing news vids about what had happened. "Shit," he muttered.

"Yeah, pretty much," Williams agreed. "Turns out, though, I never could catch up with the Commander. In the end, Skipper was calling me to come rescue his ass because he ended up at the VAO after escorting this marine there, but he didn't know how to get back to the Presidium." She sighed and kicked the toe of her boot against the wall as she stared at her hands. "Still say the man needs a map program for his 'tool."

Kaidan couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well, way I figure it, the Commander owes me still," he pointed out. At Williams' incredulous look, he raised a brow. "What? Tali got new armor, right?"

Williams chuckled. "Poor, you," she teased. "And it's beginning to sound suspiciously like you three were off on your own adventure."

Ignoring Williams' knowing look for the moment, Kaidan nodded in the direction of the markets instead and countered, "It's not like it would be just for me, right? There's a sweet little update back there that is currently going for a song. I bet you anything it's cheaper than your new suit of armor." His lips quirked up in a slightly wicked grin. "And it won't be a reward for blackmail, either."

Williams chortled and straightened up. "You're on," she agreed. "Though," she added as they began walking towards the market stalls, "the armor's not a bribe, it's payment for a favor. Skipper promised he'd tell the Commander about what was going on so she'd be prepared for any fallout."

"That's good at least," he agreed. "So, where's this armor you want?" Williams grinned and pointed towards the volus' stand down the way. Nodding, Kaidan headed in that direction. "Armor first, then tech."

"And if I win?"

Kaidan's smile widened. "Don't worry, you won't," he assured her….


	10. Chapter 10

_**Sorry for the delay and if this one feels slightly off the normal pacing. Jane took a harder hit by events in the past chapter than I realized until I sat down to write it!**_

* * *

Back when she had first been made Spectre and Captain Anderson had given the _Normandy_ over for Jane's use as such, she and John had had a long talk regarding the divvying up of responsibilities aboard ship and who would be in command. After some discussion, both had decided that Jane, being the Spectre, would take on all operational and associatively related decisions while John would essentially take over as captain of the ship. If it came down to a decision that crossed both of their commands, Jane would have the final decision because she outranked him; as an official arm of the Council she was an extension of their authority, after all.

Currently, it was this crossover of responsibilities that left Jane thankful John was around as her backup. As the _Normandy_ departed Council controlled space and returned to the Traverse, he took the lead while she sought out a way to regain her sense of calm. The bombshell that John had dropped on her during their walk on the Presidium was taking it's toll on her in that moment, and being able to rely on him just then was a godsend.

Over the years, Jane had learned to deal with the loss of her family. It started at an early age - eight - when her father died. As a result, she and her mom became especially close in the years that followed. Whenever possible, they spent time together whether it involved homework, watching a movie while sharing popcorn or simply making dinner together. Her mother's sudden departure from her life when Jane was sixteen was devastating for her. Following that, and though Jane understood the reasoning behind it, the decision to send her to stay with a grandmother she barely knew was difficult to accept. Even so, she made the best of it in the short time that she and her grandmother had together. Losing that last connection with her family six months into the transition was simply the last straw and left Jane alone, confused, and guided her down a path not entirely of her choosing.

Since that time, Jane figured out how to accept the course of events her life had taken, even if she couldn't understand fully why she had to be the one it focused all around. However, acceptance did not dull the pain that remained. With the memories brought back by John's announcement, there was a return of the nearly constant ache and loss she had never quite lost. Adding that into the mix along with her recent face-off with the Reds representative who cornered her down in the Wards, and Jane felt more than just a little drained just then.

Her first attempt at regaining control of her life was to try and sleep it off. At times in past, this method worked. Sadly, this was not one of those days. Between nerves that took too long to settle for anything but a short catnap, and then waking suddenly and with horrific nightmares that were a blend of beacon-related images, memories of personal family tragedy and a little bit of God only knew what else, she didn't dare lie back down and try again.

At this point, Jane might normally have withdrawn to the crew deck and taken the few remaining hours she had to herself to hide out in the observation lounge, but given the popularity of that particular space with the rest of the crew, she opted instead to seek silence and solace in the comm room. It wasn't currently in use, the lighting was low enough that it would keep the minor throbbing of the headache that had come on the heels of her nightmare from flaring into something worse, and there were some darker corners in the room where a Lieutenant Commander trying to hide away from reality for just a moment or two longer could sit, knees drawn to her chest, and search for a way to bring back some sort of normalcy to her surroundings.

It only figured that she would be found out by one of the crew.

"Commander?"

Jane's shoulders jerked back involuntarily as her head snapped up, eyes blearily searching the darkened room. "Alenko." Her voice came out flatter than she'd intended, but Jane couldn't find the effort to care much just then. Taking a swipe at her cheeks with the back of her hand, she began to rise. "What did you need, Lieutenant?"

She noted that he moved through the dimly lit room with relative ease, and found herself wondering how he managed it. When he stopped in front of her, she couldn't help but ask, "What are you, Lieutenant? Part cat?"

His voice was a soft, gentle rumbling chuckle around them. "Something like that, ma'am," he agreed with a smile.

Now that he stood in front of her and she could see him a bit more clearly, Jane searched his eyes. Inspiration finally hit when she recognized the deep creases at the corners - the marks of someone used to pain. "Your migraines," she murmured, recollecting a discussion she'd had with Dr. Chakwas.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm quite used to finding my way around in darker places."

Taking a deep breath, Jane nodded. "Noted. Alright, you came in here with a purpose. What did you need me for?" The sharp switch between topics was intended, more for her own peace of mind than anything else. The sooner she had something else on which to focus, the better.

"Joker has just brought us into the Dis system of the Hades Gamma cluster per your request. He says we're about an hour out from Klensal," Alenko announced.

Jane accepted a datapad he handed over to her then. Scanning the contents, Jane nodded before handing it back. "With all of those abandoned mines down there, it might take a while to find these bastards," she told him.

"Agreed, ma'am," Alenko began, "but I have an idea on that."

Jane was about to turn and start walking away to prepare for the upcoming mission, but his words caught her attention. "Oh?"

Alenko stepped over to the controls at the front of the room and brought an image of the planet up on the screen. "I think we should run a scan when we get there, search for temperature variances and such. We might be able to narrow the search area into something more manageable."

Jane eyed the image for a moment while he pointed at different areas as he spoke. After another moment, she agreed, "Sounds good. Do it."

"Yes, ma'am."

It was while they walked beside each other to exit the room that Jane saw him dart a quick look over at her. Glancing over, she asked, "Is there something else, LT?"

Kaidan stopped moving and Jane did the same, turning to face him just before the doorway. "No, ma'am, except …."

He seemed almost flustered which left Jane confused for a moment. "Except?"

"I was just wondering if you were okay."

Jane's eyes closed for a moment and she sighed. So, he knew. "John told you what happened?"

"No, ma'am … Williams," he told her. "And it was only after I asked."

Jane nodded. John had told her about the Chief's involvement in events. "I see." Eyes opening again, she met his gaze. "Lieutenant, I would greatly appreciate it if you would keep this to yourself."

Alenko straightened, shoulders suddenly rigid, back straight and upright. "Ma'am, I don't intend to say anything to anyone," he assured her. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I know a little something about the past coming back to haunt when you least expect it."

Jane ran her hands over her face, silently chastising herself. It was clear her reaction to finding out he had discovered that part of her background left her a little bit unsettled and caused her to respond in a much sharper manner than usual. Then again, that was sort of how she was feeling at the moment - raw, sharp, ragged. "I will be fine," she replied after a moment, hoping her words sounded less irritated than a moment ago. Turning back towards the door, she added, "Once we arrive at Klensal, see what you can do about that scan."

"Aye aye, Commander."

The brighter lighting of the CIC caused Jane to wince in discomfort, but it did not stop her from moving through the area. She did not see John in the vicinity, so she turned towards the bridge, his usual haunt if not in the CIC when on duty. There she found him looking through information Joker had brought up on one of the terminals. Stepping over behind him, Jane leaned over his shoulder to take a look.

"Feeling any better?" John asked, eyes darting up towards her.

Jane shrugged. "Best I can expect, I suppose," she replied quietly. "What have we got?"

Though he hesitated a moment, John did turn the subject. "One of the colder planets, though not as bad as some out there, I suppose. Shouldn't hold us back at all." He pulled up a ground map and began using his finger to indicate multiple different places. "A lot of mines to hunt through, though," he added. "It could take us a few days to do a thorough search of the area."

Jane followed his finger as he pointed to each area. "Yeah, Alenko's got an idea on that when we arrive," she explained. "He's going to try to narrow our choices down."

Nodding, John switched interfaces, pulling up additional information on the planet. "Sounds like him," he replied. "Always looking for ways to make the mission go more smoothly."

Jane couldn't help but chuckle softly. Then, recovering herself, she asked, "Do we know anything more about these guys?"

John shook his head. "Just the little bit Helena Blake gave us." He paused here before turning to face her. "This … doesn't bother you at all?"

Jane's brow quirked upwards as she noted that he seemed discontent with some part of the mission. "Hmm? What do you mean?" she asked.

"This whole … I don't know. Tracking down crime bosses, destroying their organizations, all so Helena Blake can move on in and take over control. Make it more 'respectable'? That doesn't sound like your usual way of things. And, you can't tell me it doesn't sound fishy to you."

Jane held his gaze, reading the uncertainty behind them but unsure if it was directed at her, at Helena Blake or at the mission in general. Offering him a smile of reassurance, Jane replied quietly, "John, you and I have seen first hand the dangers of red sand addiction. I think we both agree that eliminating these groups will help. Add in the fact that they're selling people into slavery for not paying up, and …."

John nodded. "No, I get that. But handing it all over to Helena Blake?" he countered. "Taking from two crime bosses to give to another and make her more powerful? That just - you haven't changed _that_ much over the years, Jane … have you?"

Jane smiled and patted his shoulder. "One step at a time, John."

~ 0 ~

Alenko's scans of the planet upon their arrival did assist in narrowing down the likely areas for the location of the criminal hideout. Both Jane and John were pulled in for a briefing of his results, and after several minutes of discussion, Jane opted to take two teams planetside. "Because I just _know_ how much you want to go surveying while we're down there," she teased John. She then sent a quick message via omni-tool to the others to meet up in the shuttle bay for imminent deployment.

Once they were on the ground, Jane had John leave her and her team on the back side of a ridge separating them and the entrance to the mine. Sending Garrus and Williams to either side with instructions to wait until they had engaged before using their sniper rifles on their targets, Jane then led Wrex and Alenko towards the main entrance.

They managed to make it close enough to use biotics before their presence was discovered and the battle ensued. The moment the first shouts of alarm went out Wrex barrelled on ahead leaving Jane and Alenko to follow. While they fought their way through the mercs, Williams and Garrus were busily offering support from their locations.

"Williams, Vakarian, let's go," Jane commed a short while later as she, Wrex and Alenko waited outside door leading into the mine.

Their entrance while unhindered, did not go unnoticed. As Jane had suspected, the mercenaries had congregated in the wider open, center of the mine. There, they found that plenty of space to position crates and other gear for best advantage and clear sniping shots had given the mercs the advantage.

"I smell trouble."

Garrus' words rumbled around them as Jane triggered the lock to open the door. Whether he actually did smell trouble or simply was reading the layout of the mine as she was, Jane didn't know, but the words were enough of a warning to heed. "Be ready," she told the others.

Shots were being aimed at them from the moment the door cleared enough for them to enter the room. Both Garrus and Ashley moved quickly to high points on either side to gain a sniping advantage. Wrex barrelled on into the thick of things almost immediately. As Jane followed, she caught Alenko's gaze and saw the smile mixed with bemusement at the krogan's actions. She tossed the Lieutenant a quick grin before shifting to her left. He took the right.

It was only a matter of minutes before Wrex's voice at the back of the area bellowed out, "Area secured, Shepard."

"Garrus? Williams?" she called on her comm just to make certain.

"My sights are clear, Commander," Williams assured her.

"Agreed," Garrus added.

"Alright. Come on down and spread out," she told them. "I want to know if we can find out anything more on the other group from these guys."

Jane headed towards the back of the mine to speak with Wrex while Williams, Alenko and Garrus began investigating the central area. "Wrex?"

The krogan grunted assent as he turned to face her. "That shaft leads to another room," he told her, pointing to the right. "The other one's not finished yet. Stops just inside the doorway."

Nodding, Jane followed him back to the first side room. "Anything worth saving in here?"

He pointed to a line of lockers on the far side of the room. "Didn't have a chance to look."

"Alright. Help me out here."

They had just opened the last of the lockers when Jane's comm flared up. "Commander?" It was Alenko.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"You're going to want to see this, ma'am," he told her.

"On my way." Rising, Jane told Wrex, "Just grab it all and we can look through it once we're back aboard ship."

The krogan reached for a nearby empty crate and began tossing everything inside. "Got it, Shepard."

Exiting the room, Jane made her way back into the central chamber. She found Alenko on her left near what looked to be a series of crates set in a somewhat fortified position. "What have you got?" she asked.

Alenko turned, his eyes finding hers immediately. "Nothing good," he told her as he handed over a small data pad.

Jane scanned the information. The Lieutenant had been taking inventory of the crates and as she read off the list of contents, she realized he was right. She wasn't liking this one bit. "Wow," she muttered as she got to the end, "Helena Blake wasn't kidding when she said they were scum."

"No, ma'am," he agreed. His back was to her again as he finished investigating. "Hold on."

Jane stepped over beside him, pushing herself up on her tiptoes to peek over the edge. "What is it?"

He reached inside, retrieved a different datapad and then began to scan it. Jane watched his face, observing how his eyes darkened, his gaze narrowing the more he read. "It's a list," he told her. "Looks to be names." He scrolled back to the top of the list. "Ship names … shit!"

Jane blinked and stepped over to glance over his arm at the information to get a look at it herself. "What?"

He seemed startled by her move, and one arm dropped so that he could half turn to face her and allow her better access. "Sorry, ma'am. It's a manifest of sorts, I guess," he explained. "Of the people they sold red sand to … who couldn't pay up."

Jane gasped softly, eyes darting up to meet his. "The ones they captured and sold into slavery?"

He nodded. "That's what it looks like, ma'am."

The sound of the door behind them opening had Jane turning to find Wrex exiting the back room, crate in his arms. Reaching for her comm, she called, "Williams? You and Garrus done?"

"Yes, ma'am," was the reply.

"Head on out. We're right behind you." She gestured Wrex to head on out too. To Alenko, she said, "Is there anything else out here we need to hold onto?"

The Lieutenant took a long look around the open area. "No, ma'am. Most of it's just assorted equipment and gear that any normal mercenary group might have. Nothing special. Most of it's sub-par anyway."

"Alright," she told him, taking a step back. "Hold onto that list. When we get back aboard, we'll need to see what measures can be taken to try to find and rescue these people." She gave Alenko a dark look. "I want you working on that personally, LT."

Alenko pocketed the two data pads while nodding. "Yes, ma'am. Be glad to."

"Alright then," Jane told him, nodding towards the exit. "Let's move out."

~ 0 ~

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" John asked.

"I suppose not," Liara agreed from her position in the back. Tali had warned her to belt herself in well and she was beginning to understand why as Shepard made the return trip to the mine.

"Left here, Shepard," Tali told him. "The mine is on the other side of that ridge."

"Got it." For all the grief he took regarding his navigational abilities (and he could admit to the truth of it at times, though not aloud to anyone except maybe his wife), he knew he had a pretty good handle on driving the vehicle itself.

"_John, can you hear me?"_

John nodded over at Tali who triggered the communications device. "Go ahead," he told his wife.

"_We're ready for pickup."_

"Almost there," he replied. "How'd it go?"

There was a hesitation before she responded and for a moment John had to wonder if something had gone wrong. _"Mission objective achieved,"_ she finally announced. _"Now let's go get the rest of these bastards."_

While Tali and Liara might not have picked up on some of the more subtle messages Jane's announcement had brought, John certainly had. It didn't outwardly appear anything had gone wrong, but there was something in her tone that indicated he wasn't going to like what they had found. _Great_. "On it," he told her. "ETA ten minutes."

Nine and a half minutes later, John pulled the Mako to a stop at the mine entrance. Liara opened the door then moved to the side as Wrex tumbled in first, moving to stow his box. Garrus, Williams and Alenko followed. Tali opted to move to the back with the others allowing Jane the chance to sit up front and brief her fellow N7 on what they had found.

While Jane and the others buckled up, John signalled the _Normandy_ for pick up then began driving towards the rendezvous point. During the drive and their retrieval by the _Normandy_, Jane brought him up to date. "Blake wasn't kidding, John," she told him harshly as they exited the Mako minutes later. "There's hundreds of names on that list."

John ignored the rolling of his stomach at the thought. "Alright. As soon as we finish in the system we can -"

"No," Jane cut him off, turning on her heel to face him as her hand made a sharp cutting movement through the air to emphasize her point. "We head out to the other base now."

After setting his weapons on Williams' work table to be cleaned and stowed away later, John turned back to face Jane. "Look, we have no firm evidence of anything beyond a list of names and the ships they were shipped out on," he felt obliged to point out. "An extra day or two isn't going to make that much of a difference. We'll make sure we're not going off on some wild goose chase and -"

Jane reached out and grasped his forearm tightly, anger flashing from green eyes. "Slavers, John!" she growled in irritation. "The same types of piratical bastards responsible for events like what happened on Mindoir! You and I both saw and experienced first hand what they did to Elysium!"

John sighed. He recognized the level of determination and stubbornness in her tone. She wasn't going to be talked down from this. Still, he had to try because at the moment she was being reckless and allowing her emotions to guide her decisions. "I'm well aware of what happened on Mindoir," he reminded her curtly, "and Elysium, but running off half cocked before we even finish researching this? That's not smart thinking, Jane, and you know it! We don't even know if any of these people are still alive. This list could be years old." Out of the corner of his eye, John could see the others wandering off, clearly not wanting to be present for this discussion. He couldn't blame them, really.

"I want you and Alenko on that list," Jane told him. "If you're so adamant we have things confirmed first, you can assist." She then spun on her heel and stalked over to the elevator. He was still standing at the workstation as the doors closed after her. "Damn it!" he muttered before turning to strip off his armor and place it in his locker.

"Skipper?"

Sighing, John called over, "It's okay, Chief."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked as she crossed to her station.

Another sigh. "Just make sure our gear is ready to go," he told her. Rising, he glanced over at her. "Whether we head to Mavigon immediately or in a couple of days, we'll need it in top shape."

Williams tossed him a smile. "You got it, Skipper," she promised. As he turned to trace Jane's path to the elevator, she dared to toss out, "Sir? You might want to let her have awhile to cool off, you know?"

John smirked back at her. "Don't worry, Williams," he told her with a little extra added bravado, "I know."

~ 0 ~

Jane stood under the heat and sting of the shower spray for twice as long as she might have under normal circumstances. But these were hardly 'normal,' were they? she mused. Regret had come quickly, as it usually did when her anger peaked and made itself known to her husband. She had a fiery temper, one that dated back to her youth, and one that she had worked especially hard on over the years to keep under control. By this point in her life, Jane liked to believe her temper had evolved into a much longer fuse.

Except for certain situations. Slavers. Batarians. Pirates of the worst sorts. People who preyed upon those who could not defend themselves. Destroyers of the innocents and those trying to protect them ….

_Janie, you need to let that go. You know good and well your father and I gave our lives protecting those who could not protect themselves. You cannot blame anyone for that._

Eyes tight, Jane lowered her head to rest against the forearm she had braced against the wall. "I can," she whispered painfully, "because those sorts of people shouldn't be allowed to get away with it!"

_Jane, you watch over those you can, you protect them and accept that it will have to be enough because you can't protect all out there who might need it._

The sound of her father's voice in her head nearly broke her. Before now, it was always her mother who spoke occasional words of guidance and wisdom. The last time she'd spoken with her father she'd been eight …. "Dad." The cracking in her voice was the only indication of her current emotional state after this discovery.

_Jane-Bug, you do the best you can. That's all you can do. It won't always seem fair and it definitely won't always feel right, but it's the best you can do. _

"Oh, god …." Turning, back solidly against the wall, Jane slowly sank to the floor while ignoring the water trickling down and mingling with the tears. She'd almost forgotten the nickname he used for her when she was little.

_Do the best you can and know that we're proud of you. _

Jane lost track of the time after that, only realizing that her time in the shower had been extensive when the sharp and prickling sensation of cold water against her skin brought her back to the present. Rising, she turned the flow off and stepped out to dry off and dress.

Returning to her cabin, Jane knew what she needed to do. And, while she hated to admit she'd been wrong, especially to him, she also understood that she needed to resolve this issue sooner rather than later. If the crew suspected that there was some sort of strain in her relationship with her husband, it would inevitably start affecting them adversely too. And besides, she and John had always had a relationship where they could admit to the other when they were wrong.

Reaching up, she pressed her comm button to link directly to him. "John?"

"I'm here," his voice trailed back a moment later.

"Do you have a moment?"

"Can you meet me in the comm room? Alenko and I are right in the middle of -"

Jane bit her lip. "I need to apologize."

There was a pause at his end of the connection. Moments later, though, he managed to surprise her. "Come on up here," he suggested. "I might need to do the same."

Walking into the comm room a few minutes later, Jane wasn't surprised to find the view screen loaded up with different images and Alenko off to the far right working diligently at one of the terminals. John she found off to the left.

Waving her over, John handed over a data pad before she could start talking. "Me first," he insisted. When she lifted a brow at that, he offered a smile. "I know how hard on yourself you can be."

Glancing down at the datapad, Jane scanned through the information there. Occasionally, she would glance up at the different pictures - another long list, photographs of several different cargo ships and the last one a map of Mavigon.

"From everything the Lieutenant and I have been able to find out so far," John told her, "the names on this list," he gestured to the list on the screen which Jane suddenly realized was the list Alenko had found on Klensal, "are recent."

Jane blinked. "How recent?" she asked.

"Within the last six months," Alenko called over before rising to join them. Before he left his station though, the screen shifted, bringing up an image somewhat akin to the galaxy map. "We haven't quite narrowed down all of the destinations," he explained, "but we have been able to determine most of the points of origin."

Several small green blips began blinking on the map. Jane recognized the locations, at least in a general sense. They were all colony worlds in the Traverse … and too many for them to deal with on their own. "Damn."

"Looks like you were right," John told her.

Jane sighed, eyes shifting to meet his. "Maybe," she agreed, "but I think you and I both know I went about it the wrong way."

Taking her arm, John nodded over at Alenko before leading Jane out of the room. In silence, they descended to the crew deck and towards the galley. Jane prepared a cup of tea; John selected coffee. Once ready, by silent agreement, they headed towards the observation lounge which was, thankfully, empty.

Taking seats beside one another, Jane turned to face him. "John, I'm sorry."

John extended a hand and watched as she slid hers into it. Squeezing it tightly, he said softly, "So am I."

And just like they, they both found the situation resolving itself.

~ 0 ~

After the assault on the base on Klensal, Jane determined that the location on Mavigon would require the full squad. She had no proof that this group of mercenaries had been alerted to impending attack, but she prepared for that eventuality just in case. And, while their opponents numbers were about the same as before, Jane felt justified in her preparations when they found the base to be located in a below ground science station. While John, Wrex, Garrus, Williams and Tali held off the opponents out in the main room, Jane took Alenko and Liara and snuck around the main battle to eliminate any threat from the rear … and to keep anything from being destroyed or reinforcements called in before they could get to it first.

Investigation of the base after the fighting was over, however, provided little more in the way of details regarding the individuals being sold into slavery. The only satisfaction that could be gained out of it, as Jane saw it, was that both groups had been eliminated and could no longer work to that end of things. It might not be a huge cog in the giant wheel of intergalactic slave trading, but it was one cog that would no longer be working. That was something at least.

Upon return to the _Normandy_, Jane spent a long time in her cabin writing up the report she eventually sent off to Admiral Hackett and to Captain Anderson. She was still in her cabin a couple of hours later when a call from the Admiral came in.

"Admiral," she greeted him as the screen flickered to life in the room and his face appeared before her.

"Commander. I received your report."

Jane nodded and waited patiently. She could hear the silent 'and' at the end of his statement.

"Are you certain you want us to hold off on looking into this?" he asked. "If it's as bad as you say -"

Jane straightened. "Sir, I sent you a copy of the information we retrieved from the first base. You are certainly free to investigate it if you so choose," she said, "but I have an idea that might eliminate the need for that."

She noted the look of surprise in his eyes and bit back a smile. It was not often one could catch Admiral Steven Hackett off guard or by surprise. "Why don't you enlighten me, Commander," he suggested.

Jane took the next half hour to do just that. She explained how she had come upon the information, the process by which she, John and Alenko had determined what they had as well as her justifications for her follow up plan. All of this, of course, was in her report, but he did not stop her and so she laid out her entire case before him. Not once did he stop her or try to cut her off.

"And when do you intend to attempt this?" was all he asked after she finished.

_When._ Jane felt a smile pulling at her lips. He was giving her his approval. "I need to send out a request for a meeting," she told him. "Once I receive affirmation on that, I will go in."

"You really think this will work, Commander?"

Jane nodded. "I do, sir. If something should come up between now and then, I will let you know and I will back away from the situation. Like I said earlier, I think this is an opportunity. My impression of the situation was that it is an entirely achievable goal."

"And if it proves otherwise?" he countered.

"I will do what is necessary for mission success, sir," she promised.

The door to the cabin whooshed open then and Jane glanced over to see John starting inside, pausing only when he realized that Jane was speaking with the Admiral. Waving him in, she turned her attention back to the admiral. He, too, noted John's arrival. "Commander."

"Sir." John saluted smartly. "My apologies for the interruption."

"None needed, Commander," Hackett told him. "But I would like to know what you think about this hair-brained scheme your wife has cooked up."

John's eyes widened and he glanced between the monitor image and Jane. He could see amusement in both sets of eyes, but he did not take the bait. "I think the plan will work," he replied instead. "And if not, then we'll eliminate any additional threat to operational security and the Alliance can take over search and recovery efforts."

"Alright. Keep me in the loop on this, Commanders. I will contact Anderson and let him know where I stand on things."

Jane and John both straightened, arms flying upwards in salute. "Thank you, sir," they both chorused as the image faded from the screen.

Turning, John looked down at Jane in bemusement and asked, "What the _hell_ did I just walk into?"

Jane laughed. "I'd just explained in detail our plan to recover these slaves," she told him. "Don't worry, your answers supported mine."

Rolling his eyes, John crossed over to sit on the edge of the bed. "I wasn't worried about that," he said. Lying backwards he sighed. "So … now that this mission is in a holding pattern for the time being, what next?"

Jane moved over to sit beside him. "Well, I contact Helena Blake to find out when she'll be at that third set of coordinates. In the meantime, I think it's time we go and investigate what's going on at Feros."

John's eyes widened and he pushed himself up to rest on his elbows. "Feros?" he echoed.

Jane nodded and handed him a datapad. "Udina had Anderson forward this to us while we were on Mavigon. Looks like Saren is still a step ahead of us." _Again._ Rising, she turned towards the door and waving him back to the bed when she saw him trying to follow. "Go ahead and rest. I know you just came off duty watch. I'm going to go set the galaxy map and get us underway. I plan to have a full briefing in a few hours."

John didn't bother to argue as a yawn overcame him. "Alright. See you then."


	11. Chapter 11

"Commander, do you have a moment?"

Liara stood in the entryway between the medbay and the outer hall, her eyes falling upon the Spectre as she spoke to one of the servicemen - Greico, if Liara remembered correctly. It had taken the three hours since Shepard's announcement of the landing teams and all the gumption Liara could muster to approach the Commander like this.

It wasn't that Liara was afraid really, just … well, she felt awkward speaking with the human woman. To be more specific, she felt completely lacking in skill and competency when it came to speaking with _any_ of the humans aboard the _Normandy_. Liara understood why this was, of course, and overall, her social awkwardness wasn't limited to the human species as a whole, but for some reason the limited experience and exposure she had come upon in her one hundred and six years simply had not prepared her for dealing with them in an appropriate manner on a daily basis.

Turning away from Greico, the Commander offered Liara a smile of welcome and stepped over towards her. "Sure, Liara. What's up?"

Liara read the Commander's reaction correctly, she thought. Bright green eyes reflecting her interest, full focus and attention on Liara. But still, nervousness toyed with the asari, in the back of her mind if nowhere else. Taunted her. Glancing around their immediate area at the other crew members currently moving about, Liara managed, "Is there … is there somewhere we could talk?"

Liara recognized the moment that the Commander's interest became concern. Something shifted in the woman's eyes. "Of course," Shepard replied, turning to lead them across the way to the observation lounge. Inside, the room was currently empty. "Will this do?"

Liara gave the Commander a weak smile of thanks. "Yes, this will do just fine."

Inside the room, Liara watched as Shepard closed the door behind them, separating them from the outside world. They were now alone.

"So," Shepard asked again, though her tone now had an edge of concern to match her eyes, "what can I help you with?"

Liara felt the butterflies in her stomach take flight again in that moment. Swallowing back the anxiety, her hands began wringing together as she sought out how to verbalize her concerns. "I was wondering … if maybe you have been dissatisfied with my contributions to your mission," she finally stammered. Liara glanced over at Shepard and saw the woman's eyes widen in shock. _Oh goddess,_ she thought, _I've misspoken again!_ "No … I … what I mean is …" Liara closed her eyes as she felt a strong wave of humiliation overtake her.

The touch of a hand on her arm had her eyes popping back open immediately, however. "Liara, it's okay," Shepard assured her, a smile still in place. "Just relax and tell me what it is that's troubling you. I'm not going to bite, I promise."

_Bite?_ "I …" Liara took a deep breath, held it for a long moment, then slowly released it. Ignoring her confusion for the moment and making a mental note to look up the phrase later, she continued. "I am sorry, Commander. Please forgive my awkwardness."

Shepard chuckled softly, but kept the smile in place. "There is nothing to forgive, Liara," the human assured her. "Now, what is it that's troubling you?"

Turning away, Liara wandered over to look out at the stars through the large display window. "I suppose I was wondering at my … usefulness. To your mission, that is," she added, glancing back at the Commander. This time, she noted, there was no shocked expression crossing Shepard's face.

"You've been quite helpful since joining us," Shepard assured her as she walked over to stand beside the window. "What brought all this on, if you don't mind me asking?" There was a pause before she added, "Has someone suggested that you -"

"No!" Liara insisted immediately. And then more calmly, "No, that is not what I was trying to suggest." Her hands moved a bit more frantically against each other. Finally pulling one away, she pressed her fingertips to her temple. "Commander, what I am trying to ask, and doing a rather poor job of it I am afraid, has more to do with why you are not taking me on this mission. I know I am the newest member of your team, and I understand that trust is a difficult bridge to build, especially between species, but -"

Shepard's hand rose and made a sharp movement, startling Liara into silence. "That isn't it at all," the Commander told her. "When I asked you to take on the responsibility of deciphering the prothean data discs we've discovered, I meant it. You are the only one of us who has any experience with the protheans. I'm hoping that might give you an advantage into cracking them." Shepard offered a sincere smile. "Liara, I'm still trying to figure out all that I saw with that beacon back on Eden Prime. If there is anything in those discs that can help with that …."

Liara nodded. "I see. I … I understand, Commander. I will put my efforts fully into this project, I assure you."

Shepard chuckled softly. "I know you will."

Something in what the Commander said a moment before struck a chord with Liara, but it wasn't until Shepard was turning away and leaving the room that it dawned on her just what it was. "Commander … one more thing," she called out, crossing halfway before halting.

Shepard turned back. "Yes?"

"Your visions. I think … No, I _know_ of a way that might help you understand them better. Or," Liara corrected herself, "at least a way to share the information so that further input can be given." Shepard blinked twice, but said nothing. "There is an asari joining process, a melding of minds, if you will. It is similar to our mating rituals, but the goal is not to procreate, rather to share information. Ideas. Memories." Liara felt her cheeks heat a little. "It is a rather … personal experience, usually shared between close friends, but it _would_ allow you to let me 'see' what the beacon showed you. I could then determine if any of your visions matched with any of my research, and from there …."

Before Shepard could reply, a beep interrupted them and she glanced down at her omni-tool. Liara saw the grimace and realized it must be mission related. "Liara, that sounds like something we should discuss in more detail," Shepard finally said, her hands typing out a rapid reply on her omni-tool at the same time. Then giving the asari her full attention once again, she asked, "Can we talk about it after I deal with Feros?"

Liara nodded. "Of course, Commander."

Shepard flashed a brilliant smile, one Liara could see reached the woman's eyes and certainly implied interest. "Good. In the meantime, let me know if you find out anything from those discs, okay? Even if I'm in the middle of the mission."

Liara nodded again. "It will be done," she agreed as Shepard turned and exited the lounge. Liara followed her out, but instead of following Shepard to the CIC, she headed back to the small lab that Dr. Chakwas had given her use of. If nothing else, it was quiet and she had access to whatever resources she needed in her attempts to decipher the prothean data discs.

~ 0 ~

As Jane hurried through the CIC towards the bridge, she noted that the ground team was standing near the hatch ready to go. Finding John beside Joker, she walked over and asked, "How close are we?"

"Descending now, Commander," Joker informed her. "Comms are all silent."

Jane darted a quick look up at her husband. "_That_ can't be anything good," she muttered. John's only response was a soft grunt of agreement. "Alright, Joker. Take us in, nice and easy. Keep comms open while we're gone in case we need to request reinforcements."

"Got it," the pilot replied. "Taking her in now."

Turning, Jane exited the bridge and walked over to the others. "Tali, Wrex, with John. Williams, Alenko with me." She looked over at Garrus who had joined them. "Keep an eye on things here, Garrus. I don't know what's going on out there, but I don't want anyone messing with my ship."

"Uh, that would be _my_ ship, Commander?" Joker called out as he brought them into the docking bay.

"Who pays for the gas?" Jane called back over her shoulder in easy banter, ignoring John's knowing chuckle behind her.

"Point taken."

Garrus' mandibles fluttered a bit in amusement. "Got it, Commander. I'll do my best to keep Joker from taking any joy rides."

The _Normandy_'s hatch opened a moment later and Jane led her people out. John moved up to her left, Alenko to her right and the others fell in behind as they moved forward.

"Commander, I'm not getting any signals," Alenko informed her as he pulled up his omni-tool. "No mapping, no comms - nothing."

Jane frowned. "Not even the _Normandy_?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. Something is jamming us."

John growled, pulling up his own 'tool and pressing some buttons. Jane knew he had programs similar to Alenko's, but she also knew he'd been tinkering with them quite a bit since Eden Prime. Despite being a techhie herself, she could admit her husband was just a bit better than she was at hacking and adapting on the fly. She also recalled the discussions he and Tali had been having of late and wondered if that had anything to do with it. "Same here," he muttered. "Not a damned thing."

Jane unholstered her pistol and signaled the others to be prepared. "Geth?" she asked.

"Most likely, Commander," Tali replied. "Whatever it is has an advanced understanding of our scanning and radar technology."

"Geth," Williams and Wrex both said at the same time.

Jane nodded. "Sounds like it, yeah. We had some issues with this on Eden Prime, too. Any chance you can override it, Tali? John? Alenko?" Jane knew her own abilities in technology were limited to other areas.

Alenko shook his head. "Not from my end."

John turned towards Tali and they both fiddled with their omni-tools for a moment. "Nope," John told her a minute later. "Hell, I still can't get a read on anything or anyone inside the _Normandy_."

"Come on you little bosh'tet!" Tali muttered as she tapped hurriedly. However, another minute or two and she was shaking her head as well. "Sorry, Commander."

Jane smiled at the quarian around a laugh. "That's okay," she replied. "I'll let it pass, but you _have_ to explain to me later what a 'bosh'tet' is!" Tali's laughter in response to this had a rather embarrassed ring to it, but she just nodded.

"Commander, look." Williams' call had Jane turning and following her hand gesture down the docking bay. At the far end, she could see a human male approaching them. He looked to be young, not much older than a teenager maybe, but if he was there then perhaps that meant that whatever was jamming their sensors wasn't Geth after all. "Come on."

"We saw your ship," he announced as Jane approached. "Fai Dan would like to speak with you immediately."

"Fai Dan?" Jane took a quick look around, but saw no one else. "Who's Fai Dan?"

"He's our leader."

Jane nodded in understanding. "And you are?"

"David al Talaqani. Fai Dan sent me when we saw your ship overhead," he explained. "We need your help preparing. The Geth are readying to make another push, and -"

A sudden flash of light blinded Jane for a moment, but the scent of burned flesh and David's cry of pain told her more than enough as to what had just happened. "Take cover!" she shouted, reaching down to grab David by the collar and pull him out of the line of fire. Around her, she could hear the others engaging in battle. Jane glanced down at David before moving to join them, realizing belatedly that it was too late. She reached out, searching his neck for a pulse, but her fingers finally told her what she already knew to be true: he was dead. "Dammit!" she muttered.

"Two shock troopers to the left," John called out.

"I see 'em, Skipper."

Jane slid in behind a wall next to Alenko and Tali. Rising just a bit, she peered over the edge and towards the end of the docks, counting the numbers of enemy she could see. "At least a squad to the right up there," she called out.

Wrex's familiar battle roar announced his ideas on the matter as he began barrelling out ahead of them. Eyes rolling, Jane muttered, "I swear, he thinks he can just bowl them over."

Alenko chuckled. "If it takes the pressure off …?"

"What do you mean, 'bowl'?" Tali asked.

"Bowling is a human game," Alenko explained.

"You use a ball to knock down pins," Williams added. "The more pins you knock down, the better your score. Usually accompanied with beer, pizza and cosmic lighting." That said, she moved out of cover and stormed after Wrex, John following on her heels.

"I wonder if the Citadel has a bowling alley," Jane mused.

"Minus the lighting, I might be agreeable if they do," Alenko told her.

"Alleys? You play this game between buildings?"

Jane chuckled at the quarian's confusion. "Sorry, Tali. I promise, I will explain more later. But for now, let's go." As she moved forward, a sudden movement to her left had her turning, biotics flaring and immediately after, a warp escaping her fingertips as a mostly-dead shock trooper tried to rise again. Allowing Alenko and Tali to move on ahead of her, Jane turned and gave the thing one last shot in the head with her pistol to be certain it was down for good.

Moving on ahead, Jane fell in behind John and Williams. Alenko, Tali and even Wrex were taking cover on the opposite side of the path, and it soon became clear why. A number of shock troopers were lying in wait just ahead of them. Jane scooted up as close as she could to John before rising up to peek over the edge of their impromptu barricade. She wasn't surprised when John grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her back down followed immediately by a shot that zipped across where her head had been.

"Why do you always _do_ that?!" he hissed.

Jane blinked, her eyes fixed on the direction of the shot. "They've got snipers, too," she observed.

"I'd say at least two," Alenko called over. "I saw two targeting beams."

An explosion just between the two sides rocked everyone as a rocket landed between them. "Dammit!" Williams choked out, coughing and falling backwards, landing on her rear at both Shepards' feet.

"You okay?" Jane asked. She knelt beside the Chief and pulled out her omni-tool to do a quick medical scan.

After a moment spent clearing her lungs, Williams nodded. "Just … peachy," she managed when finally she got some clean air.

John turned towards Jane. "Give me a couple of your grenades," he told her. "I've got an idea."

Jane handed them over without hesitating, though she countered by asking, "This isn't going to wind up with you shot through the leg again, is it?"

John barked out a short laugh. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

Satisfied that Williams would be just fine, Jane returned to her position and darted upwards quickly to take another peek. As she dropped, two more shots fired overhead. "Nope."

"Live what down?"

Jane smirked over at Williams. "Elysium," she replied.

"Three that time," Tali called over.

"That's alright," John told her, "I've got something extra special for them." Moving to crouch by the edge, John peeked around and threw the two grenades into the group of Geth blocking their path. "Fire in the hole," he warned the others as he pulled back. The resultant explosion a moment later shook the ground beneath them.

It didn't take long to realize that whatever John had done to the grenades had worked. Wrex launched himself forward again once the smoke began to clear and the others followed.

Turning to their left, Jane started visually scanning the area surrounding them as they moved up a set of stairs.

"It's those hopping things again," Alenko warned as he caught sight of the pests from Therum.

"Knock it down," Jane ordered, her own hand moving to catch one in a biotic throw that would land it almost at Wrex's feet. The krogan chuckled as another landed on top of the first. "Heh. Heh. Heh. Just where I like them."

It took some doing, but their opponents soon were gone and Jane finally led the rest into the heart of the colony a short while later. They were met, not unexpectedly, by armed colonists, but as soon as Jane announced who they were, the civilians relaxed. "Where's Fai Dan?" Jane asked one of them.

The woman turned and pointed to the opposite side of the colony. "He's over there. The Geth keep coming up from the tunnels, from the port, from everywhere," she explained. "We have all entrances and exits manned."

They found Fai Dan and after a brief interruption by another push by the Geth, Jane was able to spend a few minutes talking to the man. He couldn't tell her much, just that the Geth kept attacking and that they were coming up from the tunnels below the colony. He also informed her that some of the other colonists - those in charge of critical areas - could use her assistance. To this, Jane sent John, Tali and Alenko off to speak with them. Williams and Wrex remained with her. Her discussions with Fai Dan concluded for the moment, Jane turned to look at them. "Sounds like this transmitter's leading the Geth right into the tunnels which then funnels them up here," she murmured.

Williams nodded. "Target the transmitter then?" she asked.

Jane nodded. "One team can go down and take care of the transmitter, while the others help shore up defenses here," she suggested. "Use our time here as efficiently as possible."

"Or," John called out as he joined them, Alenko and Tali right behind him, "we can all go."

Jane's brow lifted. "Something else going on I need to know about?" she asked.

"Someone's shut off access to the colony's water," he told them. "Also, they're desperate for food and one of the colonists says there's good varren meat down there, ripe for hunting."

Jane's eyes narrowed. "But?"

John grinned at her. She could always read him so well. "But, there's an alpha varren, wild and vicious. Between him and the Geth, the colonists can't get in close enough to get at the others."

"Alright," Jane agreed. "We all go. Anything else I need to know?"

"One of the colonists asked we keep an eye out for some power cells for the generator," Tali announced. "When I suggested some from the _Normandy_, she told me the ones she needs are an older model. She thinks there's some old equipment down in the tunnels that might have what she needs, but no one's been able to get down there to check."

Jane nodded. "Okay … so transmitter, water lines, power cells and varren meat." As she spoke, she ticked each item off on her fingers. "Am I forgetting anything?"

"Sounds about right," John told her.

"Good. Let's go."

It took them the rest of the afternoon to make their way down to the tunnels. Aside from the extra requests, there was also the fact that there were plenty more Geth down below willing to take them on. It was not an easy task, though Wrex seemed to enjoy himself immensely, and in the end Jane could admit that having them all together was probably for the best. The transmitter that was calling the Geth into the tunnels was taken out after John and Tali rigged it to explode when certain systems crossed and eventually overloaded. With that threat gone, they went in search of the varren. Or, rather, Wrex led the search and the rest just followed along. There was, apparently, no way to stop a krogan battlemaster once he got going.

"You know, Commander," Williams said as she and the others remained back, picking off any stray varren that approached while Wrex fought the alpha male one on one, "I'm thinking we might need to keep meat off the menu for a few weeks after this."

"Can't say I disagree with you there, Chief," Jane replied. It wasn't the sight of the dead varren, but the stench of the creatures that was currently turning her stomach. She vaguely thought of donning her breather helmet, but realized that the air filters would only purify the air, not remove the smell.

"What's the matter, Shepard," Wrex bellowed as he walked over after defeating the the alpha male and at least four others singlehandedly, "delicate sensibilities?"

Jane managed a chuckle at that. "One of these days, Wrex," she told him, "I want to know where you're picking up these human phrases."

Wrex just laughed and lifted two of the varren carcases over his shoulder to take back to the colonists. "One of these days, Shepard," he replied as he wandered off to meet up with John and Alenko, "I might just tell you."

As she stood watching him exit the collapsed section of tunnels, Williams stepped over beside her and murmured, "And here you were wanting an entire squad of krogan battlemasters on our side."

Jane threw a dark look over at the Chief. "That was _you_, not me, Chief."

Nodding Williams towards the exit, Jane glanced up at the top of the incline caused by the rubble. "Coming, Tali?" she called.

"Just a … second, Commander," the quarian called back.

A few moments later, the quarian scampered down the incline while tucking something into one of the pouches at her hip. "What's that?"

"Power cells," Tali explained. "Those old Grizzlies are a perfect match for the same type of power cells that the colonists' generator uses."

"Nice catch," Jane replied as she followed after Tali. "I hope they are appropriately …."

Jane's voice trailed off as she and Tali came out into the main portion of the tunnels only to come to a sudden halt because Wrex and his varren, Williams, John and Alenko were blocking the way. Jane soon found out why. John was apparently talking to someone on their left who, by the looks of things, was a colonist. But what was he doing down in the Geth infested tunnels?

She didn't have time to ask as a shot from the right alerted them all to another small squad of Geth approaching. Tali and Jane moved to protect the colonist while the others took care of the Geth. Kneeling beside the man, Jane asked, "Won't you come back with us?" However, he simply hunched over, arms rising to wrap around his head as he rocked back and forth muttering incoherently about fighting the good fight or something.

"Jane, come on," John called. "He insisted he's staying down here."

Their return trip to the colony was not without its own adventure. Jane wasn't certain if it was because Geth were still sneaking into the tunnels or if they'd simply missed some along the way, but she and her team did face stiff opposition on the return to the colony. When they finally made it back to Zhu's Hope, Fai Dan assured them that no Geth had threatened since the Spectre and her squad left.

Sighing, Jane remained talking with the man while the others delivered the items they had promised. "Geth are still getting in," she warned him, "but the transmitter in the tunnel has been destroyed, so hopefully that will keep their numbers to a minimum."

"Thank you, Commander, for all you have done. We should be able to deal with any Geth stragglers," Fai Dan assured her. "At least now we stand a chance against them."

Jane's lips pursed. "If you help me find what they are after, you all will get out of here alive," she pointed out.

Fai Dan shook his head. "We don't know what they are after," he told her. "They came, they attacked. That's all we know. Their main base seems to be at the ExoGeni headquarters. I would suggest looking there for answers behind their actions."

Jane nodded. "Fair enough. How do we get there?"

"You can take the skyway across," he told her. "It leads directly there. There should be some vehicles still left down in the garage area. Take one of them to get you across." He paused a moment and gave Jane an almost pained look before speaking again. "Of course, there's an army of Geth between here and there," he eventually managed.

Jane smiled. "That's why they sent us," she replied. "Alright, I'll leave you a few of my people to help secure the defenses here. If nothing else, it will give your people a chance to rest. This will all be over soon."

As she turned away, she heard Fai Dan add, "And then maybe I can get this colony back to normal."

Jane went searching for John and found him talking with Alenko and Wrex. "Got a minute?" she asked.

John nodded at the other two and turned to walk off with her. "Sure. What's up?"

"You're getting the call on this one," she told him. They wandered through an open area, nodding politely at the colonists who otherwise ignored them. There was something about it, though, that struck Jane as odd. Something she had noticed upon their arrival and was only reinforced by their interactions since. Even the expression she'd read in Fai Dan's eyes had triggered her infamous gut instinct. "I want you, Tali and Wrex to head over to the ExoGeni building and check it out. See what's going on over there and if you can't find out what the Geth are after." Her eyes rose to meet his. "Alenko, Williams and I will stay here and hold down the fort."

John frowned. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

Jane shook her head. "Not sure. Anyway, we'll find a way to coordinate with the _Normandy_ to shore up defenses at this end. And, John?"

"Yeah?"

"Get those communication lines open ASAP. I can't tell you why, but I have a feeling your return might be tougher than your departure."

He nodded before turning to walk off. Jane went to hunt down Williams and Alenko. Something odd was going on and she intended to find out what it was before it caused any problems.


	12. Chapter 12

The journey across the skyway that connected Zhu's Hope and ExoGeni's headquarters was not without its adventures. For that matter, with Wrex manning the cannon from the moment he entered the Mako, and Tali navigating from the seat beside him, John drove into a confrontation with the geth the instant the vehicle left the garage. It wasn't anything they couldn't handle, however. Even after a drop ship deposited more troops in their path, the geth remained easy pickings for the krogan battlemaster. At one point, Wrex was even lucky enough to take out two geth who were, for lack of any better way to describe it, peeking up from below, and this with one lucky shot. By the time the Mako made it across the first length of damaged sky bridge, John was fairly certain any and all geth opposition along that stretch was well out of the way. At least for now. He fully expected reinforcements to pose a threat on the return journey.

As they neared the weigh station that marked the midway point between the colony and the ExoGeni building, Tali began picking up a transmission. From what they were able to follow through the slightly garbled communications, there were people in hiding … people who had picked up their vehicle on their scans. It took some doing, but by the time the Mako came under cover of the weigh station area itself, Tali had narrowed down the transmission's source to a bunker a half level beneath them.

Exiting the Mako, John waved off Wrex and Tali as they started reaching for weapons. "Be prepared," he warned, "but these sounded like refugees from the geth. We need to find out what's going on first. We _don't_ go in guns blazing. Got that?"

"Got it, Commander," Tali replied. Wrex looked disappointed, but after a hard look from John he grunted his agreement as well.

Leading the way down to the underground bunker, John made certain the people on security watch could see his arms raised, no weapons in sight. "Commander John Shepard, Systems Alliance," he told them when they lowered their weapons. "Who's in charge here?"

"Heh," one grumbled, irritation in his tone, "good question. It's one of those two." He pointed to a man and a woman in the center of the bunker who appeared to be arguing.

Nodding, John began walking towards them, Tali and Wrex following close behind.

John was on his fifth step towards them when the man shouted out, "That's close enough!"

He slowed his pace somewhat, but did not stop, especially when a woman beside him gave him a look of scorn and said, "Relax, Jeong. They're obviously not geth."

Jeong scowled back at her and ordered, "Get back, Juliana."

Unimpressed by the man's demeanor in handling the matter, and noting as Jeong turned to face him that Juliana was rolling her eyes in exasperation, John finally stopped.

"Who are you?" Jeong demanded, his mood just as sour as it had been to Juliana. "What do you want?"

Moving to stand at ease, John replied easily, "Name's Commander John Shepard. I'm here to remove your geth problem."

It was difficult to miss the smug look of satisfaction that crossed Juliana's face as she moved around Jeong to speak again. "You see? You worry too much, Jeong."

Jeong sniffed. "And you trust too easily, Juliana."

Turning away from Jeong, Juliana faced John. "I'm just glad to see a friendly face. I thought we were the only humans left on this planet."

John managed a smile for her. "Fai Dan and some of the other members of Zhu's Hope are still alive," he told her.

Juliana scowled at Jeong again. "I thought you said they were dead," she accused.

John thought the man looked a bit startled by the bite in her tone. "I said they were probably all dead," he defended himself.

"They're still alive," Tali assured them, "but the geth have hit them pretty hard."

Juliana sighed, eyes closing for a moment. "We know what that's like," she replied. "Those damned synthetics are relentless."

John nodded. "We'll do what we can to keep them away from you," he promised, "but I need some information first."

Jeong seemed to bridle at John's request and in that moment, the Commander recognized the man for what he was. ExoGeni had a reputation for being very guarded when it came to the information they released about their research. They took the philosophy of "company secrets" to an all new level. Jeong's attitude from the moment they'd arrived seemed to back that up as well. "What kind of information?" Jeong demanded.

Clearly done with the man and his behavior, Juliana advised, "Ignore him. The geth are up in the ExoGeni headquarters. It's just a bit further along the skyway."

Jeong's scowl darkened and focused solely on John. "Those headquarters are private property, soldier. Remove the geth and nothing else."

It was all John could do not to roll his eyes this time, and for the briefest of moments he thought he could see amusement twinkle in Juliana's. If so, he couldn't blame her, especially if she'd been having to deal with Jeong for a while now. "I have no interest in your company secrets," John assured him.

John was just turning away, Tali and Wrex both moving back towards the entrance, when Juliana hurried over beside him. Her hand reached out and touched his arm, as she murmured, "Commander, before you go … My daughter Lizbeth. She's missing …"

Jeong's voice rose louder to carry across the room. "They shouldn't waste time poking around. We can do a proper accounting of casualties after the geth are gone."

Juliana's previous scowls turned to full fledged and dagger sharp glares, John noticed. "That's my daughter you're talking about! She's still alive. I know it!"

Reaching out, John patted the woman's hand where it rested on his arm. "Where's your daughter, Juliana?" he asked.

Juliana's entire body seemed to sag in relief that he was listening. "She was in the main ExoGeni building when the geth attacks began."

"There's several places up there she could hide," Jeong insisted. "For a short time."

John ignored him. Instead, he directed his attention fully upon Juliana. "If she's in there, I'll get her out."

Juliana smiled, her relief a palpable thing. "Thank you, Commander. Thank you."

Turning, John followed his companions back up to the Mako. The trip forward was just as fraught with geth and danger as the previous leg, but with Wrex manning the cannon again and chuckling his way through the battles, it was almost a festive atmosphere inside the Mako. Almost. John pulled the vehicle to a stop a short while later when they could take it no further, but even as he and Tali were preparing to exit, the krogan was still shooting through the opening leading into another passageway.

"Wrex, come _on!_" Tali muttered, giving him the hardest shove she could to get him out of the vehicle. "They're plenty of geth out there just waiting to face you one on one."

That was enough to get the krogan moving, and as he barreled inside the building, leaving Tali to form up beside Shepard. "I hope the Commander is having an easier time of it back at the colony," she muttered to John as she pulled her shotgun out. John's only reaction was an amused chuckle.

~ 0 ~

Within minutes of her husband's departure, Jane briefed both Alenko and Williams regarding their purpose. Protect the colonists. Shore up the defenses. Keep the geth away. This began with assisting the colonists in any way they could. While Williams led several of them back into the tunnels to retrieve more of the varren to store away for food, Jane and Alenko assisted with the replacement of the power cells in the generator. When it became clear that the Lieutenant's skill in this area was far superior to hers, Jane left him to finish up while she wandered around the rest of the colony to make sure there weren't any other areas in desperate need of attention.

Spying a woman at a control panel nearby, Jane walked over and introduced herself. "Is there something I can help you with?"

The woman looked up at Jane, a rather dull look in her eyes that had the hackles on the back of the Commander's neck inexplicably rising. "Just running diagnostics on the ship," she explained. "I've got this."

Glancing around, Jane asked, "How much damage is there? Will you be able to get her back in working condition once the geth are defeated?"

She shrugged. Tossing a quick look in the direction of Ledra, the salarian merchant Jane spoke briefly with earlier, she countered, "_He_ promised us a fortune if we made this trip."

Jane swiveled to glance in the salarian's direction. "How many of the crew made it?" she asked gently.

"I'm the only surviving." Another shrug. A lingering sadness behind dark eyes. "It's not so bad here once you get used to it, I suppose," she concluded, the dullness returning again.

Jane chewed on her lip, turning back towards the console. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" she asked. "I could watch over the diagnostics for you if you want to go rest or -"

Jane was surprised by how quickly the woman's demeanor became hostile. Two other colonists moved towards them then, too, as if to back her up. "I said I don't need help," she grumbled.

Lifting her hands in supplication, Jane took a step backwards, then another. "That's fine," she told them reassuringly, turning away only after a few more steps had put more distance between them.

Frowning at the peculiar behavior during that encounter, Jane went in search of Alenko. As she rounded the corner, near Ledra's 'shop,' she literally bumped into the Lieutenant.

"Sorry, Commander!" Alenko's arms extended quickly to grasp her arms and keep her from falling.

Blushing, Jane shook her head. "Nope … my fault entirely on that one," she told him with a wry smile. "I wasn't watching where I was going." She nodded a moment later to indicate she was steady enough and he released her. "Any word from Williams yet?"

Alenko nodded. "She radioed to say they were on their way back. So far, so good, she said."

Jane sighed. "Good."

"And those other varren Wrex carried back are currently being prepared by the colonists," he told her, nodding across the compound in the direction from which he had come.

Jane managed a neutral look. If she had her way, she would be eating ration bars this evening. And considering the general disgust with the things, a sentiment that was a generally held Systems Alliance view, that was saying something. "I … think I'll pass," she muttered.

Alenko chuckled. "Where's your sense of adventure, Commander?"

Jane pursed her lips and tossed him a mocking scowl. "Quite well tempered by my sense of self-preservation." She was about to turn away and suggest they take over manning the defense for a while when she saw him wince in pain. "You alright, Alenko?" she asked.

His nod was careful, she noted. "Migraine," he informed her. "Not too bad yet, but …."

Jane winced. "If it's a migraine, it's bad enough," she told him. She knew he suffered them mostly due to the L2 implant he'd been fitted with for his biotics. Once hearing about them, Jane even checked in with Dr. Chakwas to see what else might be done to help the Lieutenant when he had such episodes, but the doctor informed her that Kaidan had his own routine in place for dealing with the issue, and that unless he specifically asked for assistance, she would allow him to manage it for himself. "Do you want to go lie down?" she offered, gesturing towards the hospital wing. "I'm sure they have a bed to spare if you think it might help."

"I -" She saw him swallow tightly, the creases at his eyes deepening as he winced against the pain yet again. "Maybe … maybe you've got a point, Commander," he rasped.

Jane chuckled softly as she helped him turn around and moved to walk beside him. "That _is_ why they put me in charge," she quipped.

Alenko groaned. "Ma'am … please … don't make me laugh …."

Biting back amusement, Jane guided him into the hospital area and towards an empty cot. She grabbed a blanket and a pillow from the supply shelf and helped him settle in. "I'll check back on you in a while," she promised. Hopefully, the dim lighting and the quiet would help his migraine pass more quickly.

"Thanks, Commander."

Exiting through the back of the building, Jane spotted Fai Dan and his security chief, Arcelia and turned to speak with them when she caught movement in the tunnels beyond. Reaching for her pistol, she was about to unsheathe it when she recognized the familiar colors of the armored soldier approaching. "Williams."

The Chief stepped aside so the colonists could take the varren on ahead to the kitchens. "Ma'am," she replied. She glanced around. "Where's Alenko?"

Jane sighed. "Migraine," she told the younger woman. "I got him to lie down in the hospital wing for a while."

Williams whistled softly beneath her breath. "Damn. If he's down, it must really be bad," she muttered.

Jane nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, how about you and I go see about relieving those on watch at the entrance to the compound? We'll let them have a chance at a good meal -"

Williams snorted as they began walking. "Don't know how 'good' varren meat is," she broke in.

Jane chuckled. "I'm with you there, Chief," she admitted. "However, these people have been struggling without for days, so if that's what they want to eat, more power to them."

Williams nodded. "Agreed, ma'am," she replied as she moved into position and let Jane do the talking.

~ 0 ~

Liara pushed herself back from the console, hands rising to rub at tired eyes. Several hours before, she set the prothean data discs she was working on aside. Without specific and currently unknown technological advances in place, there just wasn't any way to decipher them at the moment. Through careful manipulation of the discs and a bit of creative thinking on coding for her console, however, she managed to at least look at some of transcriptions … but beyond that, she could do nothing with them. They were, simply put, too different in context and content, to understand. Even though she could pick out certain pieces given her familiarity with the prothean language and her research, she had no real foundation for transcribing what was there.

Her frustrations causing her anxiety (and fear of disappointing the Commander), Liara wandered away from her office for a short while, deciding to make a cup of tea. She checked in briefly with Garrus as to the status of the ground team, and reassured that all was going as well as it could for the time being, she returned. But that left her with the question of what to do next. Shepard had specifically asked for assistance with the prothean data discs - but until Liara came up with some new, ingenious, never before tried method of decryption she was good and stuck. However, Spectre Shepard also left a second set of discs for Liara to research. Copies of ancient asari writings they came across during their journey, and which now had Liara's full attention. And Liara was finding them to be fascinating in more ways than one.

But after hours of staring at the writings and with few personal breaks save for a fresh cup of tea or something to eat, the strain was finally getting to her. She could hear voices on the other side of the wall, one of whom was obviously Dr. Chakwas. The other, if Liara could trust her ears just then, sounded suspiciously like Garrus. She was just turning away from her desk, preparing to rise from her chair, when something caught her eye on the screen. Frowning, she turned back. She already decided that this particular writing was referencing something on a planet in the Attican Beta, but there was something about the word she saw ….

The sound of the door sliding open and footsteps entering the room did not manage to pull her away.

"Liara, Dr. Chakwas says you've been at this for a long time. Don't you think you should take a break?" Garrus asked.

"In a moment," she breathed, arm extending to wave him off, forefinger of her other hand tracing the lines of print on the screen as she reread them. Eyes wide open, entire body on alert and being fueled by adrenaline, _this_ time the words sank in.

"_... Mention of and extensive interaction with the 'Old Growth' during the prothean era is not as rare an occurrence as it was first believed. He lured them in somehow. Bent them to his will. Studied them. Absorbed the information their minds once held. He found in them that which will lead to the survival of asari culture eventually, though there is little room to speak of it here. His precise location is not documented at this time, yet I believe it to lie between Orcan and Vardet, the two moons of …."_

"Feros!"

Liara sat back with a loud gasp, hand rising to her lips as she spun around to face Garrus. "I think … I think I have something," she informed him, blue eyes wide with awe.

The turian blinked. "Have what?" he asked, confusion clear even in his subharmonics.

Waving him over beside her, Liara turned back around and scrolled the page back towards the top. "I couldn't make any progress on the prothean discs Shepard asked me about," she explained. "There just is not enough known to know how to transcribe the little information I can access. So I turned my attention to the asari writings instead."

Garrus nodded. He'd been on one of those missions. That, at least, he knew (sort of) what she was talking about. "Okay. And this is one of those?"

Liara nodded. "It is. It appears to be various entries over time. They are chronological despite their infrequency. Mostly, they appear to be descriptions of certain places visited by Matriarch Dilinaga during her travels. This one," she scrolled down and pointed to the comments in the side margin, "appear to be a visit to Feros."

Garrus frowned as he stared at the screen, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the asari language. "How old are they?" he asked.

"Thousands of years," she replied.

Garrus made a sort of rumbling humming noise in the back of his throat. "And you're certain this is in reference to Feros?"

Liara nodded. "If for no other reason than she mentions the location being between Orcan and Vardet." She glanced up at him. "Those are the two moons of Feros."

"Huh. Well, sounds good enough of a match for me," he agreed. "But what exactly is it that you found?"

Liara felt all of the effervescent excitement inside of her over the last few minutes suddenly disappear. Shoulders sagging just a little, she managed a sheepish smile up at him. "I … I am not sure," she admitted. Sighing, she added, "I will admit that I was about to take a break - the last few entries I have read sort of went … what is that human expression?"

"Went in one eye and out the other?" Garrus offered.

Liara chuckled softly. "Yes, that is the one." She sighed and ran a hand across her face. "I will need to go through it again to see if I can make more sense of it."

"Hmm." Straightening up, Garrus turned towards her. "Well, I'm no doctor," he mused, "but I think perhaps a real meal - not these snacking trips you've been making to the galley - and something to drink might help you get back on focus."

Liara nodded and rose to her feet. "I think you might be right," she told him as she followed him out the door and through the medbay.

"I don't suppose I could talk you into getting some rest?" he asked next. His mandibles fluttered as she raised an eyebrow at him. "I promised the Commander I'd make sure you didn't work too hard. Something about a discussion you both had before she left?"

"Ah." Liara nodded and smiled. "Well, maybe after I take a more detailed look at that entry," she promised. "After all, it might help them on their mission."

~ 0 ~

A yawn as weariness began to stalk her caught Jane off guard as she stood at her position. The last of the colonists were finally wandering back to their posts after taking the time for a meal and a short break from the stress and strain they had been under nearly constantly for who knew how long. At the same time, Jane began to notice that the mission was beginning to take a toll on the Chief as well. For the past couple of hours, the younger marine had gradually become less talkative, her normal exuberant and at times irreverent manner fading into the silence. Realization came slowly, much to Jane's chagrin, but by the time they left the guard post, it was blatantly obvious that something was bothering Williams. "Chief, you okay?" Jane asked.

"Yeah. Just … a bit of a headache, I guess," she replied as they walked back to the center of the compound. Her hand rose to rub at her forehead.

Jane frowned. _Another headache?_ "How bad?"

Williams shrugged. "Not too bad," she insisted, "but enough that it's obvious it's there."

Jane's frown deepened. Coming to a halt, she turned to face the Chief. "Williams, if you're indisposed, get yourself to the hospital wing. Pronto," she ordered.

Williams shook her head. "Nah, I'm good," she said. "Ma'am. It's just … I dunno. Rations, maybe? Not enough nutrients for the environment? Or maybe it's something in the air?" She shrugged. "Guess it's a good thing I'm not a scientist, huh?" she joked.

Jane sighed at the suggestion that environmental factors could be involved. Sadly, she knew good and well that could be the case. Rations were easy enough to take into the field on missions, but they were a poor replacement for full nutritional value of a decent meal. "Got any left?"

"One or two."

Jane nodded towards the area where the colonists had provided them with a place to sleep. "Eat another one then go lie down for a bit, see if that helps. I'm going to check on Alenko then I'll be right over."

"Ma'am -"

"Do it, marine. That's an order," Jane barked, not willing to take no for an answer. "Otherwise I send you back to the ship and take Garrus out instead." Jane noted the look of horror in Williams' eyes at the thought of being replaced on a mission. "Go on," she added a bit more gently this time.

Once assured Williams was headed off to rest, Jane turned to make her way back to the hospital wing. Alenko and one colonist were the only people in the room at present. Jane hesitated at the doorway - the colonist appeared to be resting calmly, and Alenko might have been asleep for all she knew (it was difficult to see across the now darkened room), but his voice a moment later assured her he was awake. "Commander?"

"Hey," she called out quietly, electing to step inside the room after all. Moving over to take a seat beside him, she asked, "How're you feeling?"

His hand rose to press against his temple. "Like I've been run over by a geth Colossus," he replied. "But it could be worse, I suppose."

"Have you eaten anything?" she asked next, reaching into one of her hidden pockets and retrieving both a ration bar and an energy bar. _Biotic metabolisms,_ she mused silently.

The Lieutenant took both items. "Thanks. I have some stashed away somewhere," he pushed himself up on an elbow and looked around a room that was mostly shadows, "but I've no idea where."

"Not to worry," Jane replied. "I always carry spares."

Jane's head turned as she thought she heard a sort of low humming thrumming sound in the distance, but she couldn't place it immediately, and when nothing came into view that would explain it right away, she dismissed it. "Feeling up to coming back on duty?" she asked Alenko. "Or do I need to send to Dr. Chakwas for some industrial strength painkillers?"

The Lieutenant managed a small laugh. "I always carry a couple extra doses of those on missions, too," he admitted.

Jane grinned. "What are you, a boy scout?"

"Something like that, ma'am."

Shaking her head, she repeated her question. "So, what's it to be? Back on duty or back to the doc?"

Slowly, he pushed himself further upright until he was sitting straight. "I'm good, ma'am," he told her.

Jane kept a close eye on him as he stood, watching for signs to the contrary. She suspected he was a lot like Williams when it came down to fulfilling duty requirements. But his movements were steady as he donned his armor and gathered his things in the dark. "Still think you're part cat," she muttered as they exited the hospital wing a short while later.

Alenko, mouth filled with a bite from the ration bar, simply smiled.

Outside of the building, Jane again noticed the sound she'd heard earlier … a sort of humming thrum. Frowning, she glanced around them, left to right. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Yeah." Jane looked over at Alenko as he seemed to lurch suddenly to their right. She also noticed the hint of blue beginning to snake around his hands and wrists and forearm. Relying on his instincts, she reached for and began pulling mass effect energy from the air around her in preparation for whatever it was that had caught the Lieutenant's attention.

"Alenko," she called over to him, when it became apparent there was no immediate threat bearing down on them. Nodding towards their quarters to the left, she added, "Regroup over there. Williams is inside."

"Aye aye, Commander."

What bothered Jane the most as they moved was while the noise was getting louder, there was no sight of an actual specific threat against them. However, just before she ducked into their room after Alenko, something in the sound struck a chord of recognition in Jane, identifying the sound to her.

It was a moaning sort of groan, and it was _definitely_ of human origin.

"Shit!"

"Commander?"

Jane turned, her back against the door as she faced the other two. "Williams, how's the head?"

When the Chief glanced upwards, Jane saw the answer behind the dark brown eyes. What she saw there was more than just pain. Whatever was out there, whatever it was that Jane had seen affecting the colonists and could well be behind the sounds outside was now affecting her crew. _HER crew._ Jane felt the first stirrings of anger inside of her. Anyone who knew her, knew her well enough to understand that _NO ONE_ messed with her crew.

"I'm … I'll be … good," Williams groaned.

The noise outside was getting louder. Jane waved Alenko over. "See if you can't find a way to lock this."

He knelt beside her, all focus on the task at hand while Jane continued speaking to Williams. "Chief … can you try to reach the _Normandy_?" By this time, however, Williams was doubled over on her cot, curled up in obvious agony. Jane was about to reach for her own comm to try to contact the ship when she heard the sizzling of fried circuitry beside her. "Did you get it?"

Alenko's wince was sharper this time as he looked up at her. "It's not pretty, but it should last for a little while."

"And not a moment too soon," Jane observed as the first poundings at the barricade began.

Taking a step backwards, away from the distraction, Jane finally reached up and pressed her comm. She hoped John had taken care of the geth jamming issue by now. "_Normandy_, can you hear me?" All that came through was the same static as earlier.

"Commander," Alenko warned, "that door isn't going to hold forever."

Jane saw him reach for his pistol, but she moved quickly and caught his arm. "No," she told him. "If they're armed and they start shooting at us, that's one thing. But I don't want to kill them if we don't have to." When he looked doubtful, she reminded him, "We have the advantage, Lieutenant. Biotics. Hand to hand combat training. We rely on those things first, not weapons."

"Yes, ma'am."

A sudden blast of loud static burst through Jane's comm causing her to snap her head backwards and to the side in a sharp motion.

"_Normandy to shore party … can you hear me? Anyone?"_

"Joker, that you?" Jane replied immediately, taking another step backwards so she could hear more clearly. "What's your status?"

"We're in lockdown over here, Commander. The civilians have seriously freaked! They've started banging on the hull, trying to break through!"

Jane glanced over at Alenko who, she noted, was keeping a close eye on their door. "Yeah, we've got a similar situation over here," she replied. "The _Normandy_ should be fine though." A sudden thought occurred to her. "Joker … can you reach John via comms? Can you get us connected?"

"Give me just a minute," Joker promised.

"What's going on?" Alenko asked, backing up to stand beside her.

"Same thing - civilians are attacking the ship. Joker says they're banging on the hull, trying to break through." Jane glanced down at Williams. "Can you take a quick look at her? She was starting to have a headache before I went to check on you. I'm worried it's somehow tied into," she waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the door, "all of this."

Alenko moved to kneel beside Williams, his omni-tool flaring to life as he did. "Headache?" he echoed.

Jane nodded. A loud pounding at the door had her glancing back quickly, but the improvised lock seemed to be in place. "Yeah, that struck me as odd, too."

"What about you?" he asked. "Any headache?"

Jane blinked. "Uh … no?" She winced as another loud thump against the door reverberated. "Well, nothing other than the racket they're making at the moment," she clarified.

Alenko rose and moved back beside her. "She's in a lot of pain," he announced. "Probably will need one of those industrial strength painkillers you mentioned earlier."

"No doubt."

Her earpiece crackled again, and Jane lifted a hand to press it. "I'm here, Joker."

"_Commander … Finally got him."_

"_Jane? What's going on over there? Joker said something about the colonists attacking?"_

Jane turned as the pounding grew louder. Alenko released the omni-tool and prepared his biotics. "Yeah," she replied, "that's one way to put it. I see you got the jamming issue cleared up. Good job."

"_Won't be worth much if we can't get back to you in time," _John replied. _"What's your status?"_

"Pretty much same as Joker's. Only we're stuck in a housing unit in the center of the compound. Alenko's jimmied the lock so they can't get in, but I've no idea how long that will last." Another crash, the loudest one yet, shook the walls around them. "Damn."

"_Fine - we're coming in, guns blazing. Maybe that will make them scatter."_

"No!" Jane insisted. "John … I don't know how to describe it, but this … this isn't them. Hell, for that matter, it's affecting Williams," she darted a look over at the Lieutenant, "and Alenko to a lesser degree, I think. Both are suffering from severe headaches, and both, at varying levels, are showing signs of that same subdued reaction that the colonists have been exhibiting since we arrived." She glanced apologetically over at Alenko. "Sorry, but -"

Alenko shook his head. "You call it as you see it, Commander."

"_How bad off are they?"_ John asked.

"Williams is down for the count at the moment," Jane told him. "Alenko is … managing."

"_And you?"_

Jane smiled even though he couldn't see her. "I'm too hard headed for that," she reminded him.

His sigh was audible. _"Jane -"_

"John, I'm fine. I promise. I've no idea why it isn't affecting me, but I'm good. The order still stands: No casualties if they can be avoided," Jane insisted.

"_Just how are we supposed to - wait a minute."_

"John, what's going on?"

"_Sorry - one of the scientists here had an idea that just might work. Stay put … we're on our way."_

"No casualties," she repeated.

Once the connection was broken, Jane turned towards Alenko. "We're to hold down the fort until reinforcements arrive," she told him.

Alenko sighed, but nodded. "Let's just hope the cavalry gets here in time to save the day."


End file.
